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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


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JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

IN 

HISTORICAL  AND  POLITICAL  SCIENCE 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 


History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History.  —  Freeman 


VOLUME    I 


LOCAL  INSTITUTIONS 


PUBUSHKD  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  TIIK  JoHNS   HOPKINS   L'KIVKRSITT 
N.    MURKAY,    PUBLICATION    AOKXT 

BALTIMOK E 

1  88  :t 


JOHN  MURPHY  A  CO.,  TRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


I.  An  Introduction  to  American  Institutional  History.  By  Edward 
A.  Freeman,  D.  C.  L.,  LL.  D.  With  an  Account  of  Mr. 
Freeman's  Visit  to  Baltimore.     By  the  Editor. 

II.  The  Germanic  Origin  of  New  England  Towns.  "With  Notes  on 
Co-operation  in  University  Work.  By  Herbert  B.  Adams, 
Ph.  D.,  Associate  Professor  of  History,  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity. 

III.  Local  Government  in  Illinois.     By  Albert  Shaw,  A.  B.     Local 

Government  in  Pennsylvania.     By  E.  li.   L.  Gould,  A.  B., 
Fellow  in  History,  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

IV.  Saxon  Tithingmen  in  America.     By  Herbert  B.  Adams. 

V.  Local  Government  in  Michigan  and  the  Northwest.  By  Edward 
W.  Bemis,  A.  B.,  Scholar  in  History,  Johns  Hopkins  Univer.Mty. 

VI.    Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.    With  Illustrations  from  Pariah 
Kecords.     By  Edward  Ingle,  A.  B. 

VII.    Old  Maryland  Manors.     With  the  Kecords  of  a  Court  Leet  and 
a  Court  Baron.     By  John  Johnson,  A.  B. 

VIII.    Norman  Constables  in  America.     By  Herbert  B.  Adams. 
IX-X.    Village  Communities  of  Cape  Anne  and  Salem.     By  Herbert  B. 
Adams.  • 

XL  The  Genesis  of  a  New  England  State.  By  Alexander  Johnston, 
Professor  of  Political  Economy  and  Jurisprudence,  Princeton 
College. 
XII.  Local  Government  and  Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina.  By  B. 
J.  Ramage,  A.  B.,  Scholar  in  History,  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity. 

iii 


INDEX  TO  FIRST  VOLUME 

OF 

Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies 

IX 

HISTORICAL  AND  POLITICAL  SCIENCE. 


Abbeville  county,  XII.  20. 

Abbott,  Michael,  VII.  34. 

Acts  of  Assembly,  Maryland,  VI.  5, 
7,  10,  11,  12,  13,  18,  19,  21,  23,  26, 
26,  29,  31,  32,  39. 

Adair,  Kob't,  VI.  40. 

Adams,  H.  B.,  Freeman's  visit  to 
Baltimore,  I.  5-12 ;  the  Germanic 
Origin  of  New  England  Towns, 
II.;  Saxon  Tithingmen  in  Amer- 
ica, IV. ;  Norman  Constables  in 
America,  VIII. ;  Village  Com- 
munities of  Cape  Anne  and  Salem, 
1X-X.;  Alex.,  VI.  9;  Henry,  II. 
41. 

Adamites,  XT.  21. 

Addison,  John,  VI.  14. 

Adultery,  VI.  20,  33,  35. 

Afferors,  VII.  14,  15. 

Aldis,  W.  S.,  II.  15;  IX-X.  55. 

Ale  tasters,  VII.  14. 

Alfred,  IV.  16. 

Alienation,  recorded  in  court  baron, 
VII.  38. 

Allen,  Rev.  Dr.  E.,  history  of  Cov- 
entry parish,  VI.  8;  history  of 
St.  Paul's  parish,  48;  W.  F.,  pa- 
per in  the  "  Nation,"  II.  40. 

All  Saints  parish,  extracts  from  rec- 
ords of,  VI.  42-49. 

Aims-House  Farm,  IX-X.  60. 


America,  Spanish  conquest  of,  I.  15; 
English  settlements  in,  10;  Eng- 
lishmen of,  2:!. 

American  Constitution,  I.  38;  XI. 
14,15;  democracy,  II.  6  j  revolu- 
tion, VI.  23,24. 

Andrews,  M.,  VI.  46. 

Andross,  Gov.,  III.  24,  25. 

Annapolis,  I.  9;   VI.  17,  30. 

Appenzell,  I.  38. 

Arms  for  manorial  tenants,  VII.  20. 

Aristocracy,  Calvert's  plan  for,  in 
Md.,  Vll.  7. 

Aristotle,  I.  9. 

Askew,  .Michael,  VI.  45. 

Assembly,  (Connecticut),  XI.  14,15; 
(Maryland),  see  Acts,  VI.  14: 
(Pennsylvania),  members  of,  paid 
from  county  rate,  III.  L'7  ;  return 
of  county  rate  made  to,  29. 

Assessment,  111.22,23;  by  court  of 
sessions  and  grand  jury,  27  ;  board 
of,  27,  28. 

Assessors,     (Maryland),     V I 
(Pennsylvania),  111.  U7,  28;  i 
tion  of,  33  ;  dimes  of,  3  I. 

Assistants,  XI.  20. 

Athens,  I.  14. 

Atlantis  I.  1  1. 

Attaway,  Tims.,  VII    37. 

Auditor,  (county  .   Ill    33  ;   1 1< 
ship),  :;.'i ;   election  uf,  :;•). 

Austin,  John,  VI.  45. 


41 ; 

j.v- 


VI 


INDEX. 


Awsbury,  Henry,  VII.  87. 


B 


Bachelors  taxed,  VI.  21,  36. 
Bacon,  VI.  5,  B,  7,  9,  10,  12,  14,  17, 

19,  21,  22,  37. 
Bagby,  Levine,  VI.  48. 
Bailiff  of  manor,  VII.  13,  31-36. 
Baker,  Michael,  VI.  32,  36. 
Ball,  Jno,  VII.  37. 
Baltimore,  Lord,  VI.  5,  80 ;  county, 

26,  87,  38;   city,  26,  27;   gentle- 
men of,  assist  in  printing  records, 

29. 
Bancroft,  III.  37;  XI.  8. 
Bankers,  vestry  as,  VI.  23,  35. 
Bankes,  Geo.,  VII.  34. 
Barefoot,  Jno.,  VII.  37. 
Barnwell  county,  XII.  38. 
Baronies  in  Md.,  Bill  for,  VII.  7. 
Bartholomew  county,  XII.  20. 
Bartlett,  Walter,  VII.  33. 
Beall,  Geo,,  VI.  31,  32;  James,  82; 

Josiah,  36 ;    Alex.,  36 ;  William, 

36;  Samuel,  36. 
Beaufort,  school,  XII.  14 ;  district, 

20. 
Bell,  John,  VI.  34. 
Bellowes,  Francis,  VII.  34. 
Bemis,  Edward  W.,  on  Local  Gov- 
ernment   in    Michigan    and    the 

Northwest,  V. 
Bentlev,  Rev.  W.,  history  of  Salem, 

IX-X.  27 ;  North  and  South  Fields 

of  Salem,  38. 
Benton,  Wm.,  VII.  34. 
Beresford,  R.,  XII.  35. 
Berkley,  eountv,  XII.  20. 
Birckhead,  S.,  VI.  42. 
Bishop,    Whittingham,   VI.   5 ;    of 

London,  7,  9,  30 ;  of  diocese,  27. 
Blackistone,  Jno.,  VII.  35,  36,  37; 

Nehemiah,  38. 
Blackstone  on  constable,  VIII.  6. 
Blake,  Rich.,  VI.  45. 
Blay,  Col.,  VI.  21. 
Block,  H.  A.,  VIII.  30. 
Books  and  libraries,  Freeman '8  views 

on,  I.  8;  in  Maryland,  VI.  8,  11, 

15,  16,24,25,31,43,44. 
Boston,  XI.  12;  fire,  VI.  22. 
Boucher,  Rev.  Jonathan,  his  epistle, 

VI.  17;  life  and  writings,  24. 


Bourbourg,  Brasseur  de,  his  Sunday 

experience  in  Boston,  IV.  4. 
Bourdillon,  Rev.  M  ,  VI.  37. 
Bowditch,  N.,  IX-X.  30. 
Boyce,  Roger,  VI.  40,  44. 
Bradbourne,  Edw.,  VII.  37. 
Braddock's  defeat,  VI.  21. 
Bradford,  Gov.,  II.  29;  Jno.,  VI.  30. 
Brandford,  XI.  22,  23,  27. 
Bray,  Rev.  Thos.,  VI.  10,  11. 
Brenson,  Gerett,  VII.  34,  35. 
lirent,  Giles,  VII.  8;  Margaret,  19. 
Bricks,  VI.  17,  37,  38,  39. 
British  government  in  North  west,V. 

9  ;  museum,  I.  8. 
Brodhead,  J.  R.,  V.  29. 
Brooke,  Rev.  Clement,VI.  37;  Lord, 

XI   7. 
Brooklyn,  I.  35. 
Brown,  Geo.  W.,  I.  9. 
Bruce,  Wm.,  VI.  14. 
Bryce,  James,  I.  9. 
Bullock,  John,  VII.  35,  36,  37. 
Burgesses,  XI.  21,  23. 
Burial    Hill,    a    natural    acropolis, 

VIII.  17. 
Burlington,  V.  11. 
Burnes,  James,  VI.  37. 
Butler,  Rev.  Edw.,  VI.  15. 
By-laws,  VII.  14. 


Caesars,  I.  11. 

California  schools,  V.  21 ;  townships, 
22. 

Calvert  county,  VI.  14,  42,  43; 
Charles,  30;  Leonard,  VII.  6. 

Camden  district,  XII.  20. 

Campbell,  J.  V*,  on  feudalism  in 
Michigan,  V.  8,  9, 12;  James,VI. 
20,  21. 

Cape  Ann,  legal  basis  for  settlement 
of,  IX-X.  4;  fisher  plantation  a 
failure,  4,  5;  failure  of  Dorchester 
men,  12. 

Cape  Cod,  VIII.  17. 

Carnall,  Chris  ,  VII.  31,  33. 

Carre,  Sir  Robert,  III.  24. 

Carroll,  Peter,  VI.  40;  Charles,  of 
Carrollton,  VII.  6. 

Carver,  John,'  governor  of  Ply- 
mouth, II.  25;  VIII.  19. 

Casey,  Thos.,  VII.  35. 


INDEX. 


Vll 


Cass,  Oov.,  influence  on  local  gov- 
ernment in  Michigan,  V.   12,  13. 

Caswell,  Rich.,  VI.  14,  37. 

Catline,  Thos.,  VII.  35,  37,  38. 

Centralization,  French,  V.  8,  9  ;  ten- 
dency in  the  United  Estates,  25. 

Chapels  of  parish,  VI.  16,  29,  37  ;  on 
manors,  Vli.  10. 

Charity  schools,  VI.  22. 

Charles  II.,  XI.  7,  25,  26,  29. 

Charleston,  XII.  8,  9,  10,  15,  16,  18, 
19,  21,  22,  23,  25,  26,  32,  33,  34, 
36,  37;  district  divided,  XII.  20. 

Charlestown,  VI.  9. 

Chauntry,  J  no.,  VII.  35. 

Cheptico  Indians,  VII.  33;  King 
of,  34. 

Cheraws,  district  of  divided,  XII.  20. 

Cheshire,  Wm.,  VII.  35,  37. 

Chester  county,  XII.  20. 

Chesterfield  county,  XII.  20. 

Chew,  Joseph,  VI.  29,  33. 

Childs,  James,  XII.  35. 

Childsbury,  free  school  of,  XII.  14, 
35. 

Chillman,  Rich.,  VII.  37. 

Choate,  R.,  on  beginning  of  N.  Eng. 
institutions,  II.  27;   VIII.  21. 

Christ  Church  parish,  VI.  14. 

Chrysoloras,  I.  11. 

Church,  parochial,  III.  23  ;  built  by 
order  of  court  of  sessions,  25 ; 
penal  laws  of  Maryland  read  in, 
VI.  9,  21  ;  description  of,  IB,  17, 
18,24;  wardens,  III.  22,  23,25; 
VI.  (see  wardens);  XII.  11; 
church  members  in  Conn.,  XI.  22, 
23,  24  ;  church  and  state  in  Conn., 
15,  17,  21. 

Circuits,  judicial,  XII.  27. 

City,  a  corporate  town,  I.  37 ;  organ- 
ization in  III.,  III.  18. 

Claggett,  John,  VI.  35,  36,  46. 

Claims,  territorial,  of  Conn.,  XI. 
7-10. 

Clark,  Rev.  J.  S.,  his  theory  of  town 
corporation,  II.  27. 

Claremont,  XII.  20. 

Clarendon  county,  XII.  20. 

Clergy,  deficiency  of,  III.  23;  (see 
ministers). 

Clerk  of  county,  III.  29;  of  town- 
ship, 33;  of  parish,  VI.  8,  12,  17, 
32  ;  of  vestry,  16, 18,  32,  33,  36,  37, 
89,  41,  43,  44;  commissary's,  17. 


Climate,  effects  of,  on  South  Caro- 
lina, XII.  6. 
Cockshutt,  Thos.,  VI.  42,43. 
Coke  on  constable,  VIII.  6. 
Cole,  Robt.,  VII.  34,  35,  37. 
Collections  in  Penna.,  law  of,  III. 

22,  28,  29. 

Collectors,  how  appointed,  III.  23, 
34  ;  duties  of,  34. 

College  royal  in  Virginia,  VI.  12. 

Colletin  county,  XII.  20. 

Colony,  laws  of,  Mass.,  VIII.  28-30; 
Connecticut,  XI.  13-21;  New 
Haven,  17,  21-25. 

Colonization  of  Connecticut,  XI. 
10-13. 

Colorado  schools,  V.  21 ;  townships 
in,  21 ;  woman  suffrage  in,  24,  25. 

Combes,  Abraham,  VII.  37. 

Comegys,  Wm.,  VI.  21. 

Commissaries,  appointment  and  du- 
ties, VI,  13,  15,  17. 

Commissioners,  (county),  III.  33; 
XII.  26;  duties  and  powers  of, 
III.  33-36;  XII.  26. 

Common  lands,  II.  22;  of  New 
Castle,  III.  25;  fields  stinted, 
common  pasturage,  IX-X.  48,  49. 

Commonable  ground,  II.  20. 

Commoners,  Salem,  IX-X.  70. 

Communal  interests,  Saxon  influ- 
ence of,  II.  38. 

"  Compromise  system  "  of  local  gov- 
ernment in  Ohio  and  Indiana, 
III,  11. 

Compton,  Bishop,  III.  23. 

Conant,  K.,  IX-X.  7. 

Congregations,  VI.  26;  XI.  11. 

Congregationalists,  XI.  17. 

Congress,  XI.  6,  7,  14,  15. 

Connecticut,  governor  of,  I.  35;  lo- 
cal institutions,  II.  30;  women 
eligible  on  school  board,  V.  25; 
territorial  claims  of,  XI.  7-10; 
river,  9,  10,  11,  15;  colonization 
of  towns,  12;  colony,  13-21  :  state 
of,  14;  church  and  slate  in,  15,  17, 
2 1 ,  22,  23,  24 ;  charter,  26 ;  county 
system  of,  28. 

Constables  (in  111.)  III.  12;  (Penna.) 
III.  21  ;  official  term  of,  21  ;  laws 
framed  by,  21  ;  general  duties,  22, 

23,  24,  25,  28  ;  how  chosen,  21,  27  ; 
ecclesiastical  duties  of,  22;  court 
of,  25;   (Md.),  VI.  8,  19,20;  VII. 


Vlll 


INDEX. 


14,  36,  38;  oath  of,  16;  (New 
England),  derivation  of  term, 
Vlll.  6^  7-;  origin  of,  8;  an  elec- 
tive officer,  13;  Indian,  25;  sun- 
day  duties  of,  27;  power  of,  82, 
83 ;  documents  concerning  duty 
of,  36-88;  duty  in  harvest  time, 
IX-X.  45;  (Conn.),  XI.  19,22,24., 

Constantinople,  I.  11. 

Constitution  of  towns  framed  hy 
constables  and  overseers,  III.  21, 
24;  first  American,  XI.  14,  15; 
Locke's  fundamental,  XII.  7. 

Convention,  federal,  XI.  16. 

Convery,  (Conoray),  Edw.,  VII.  35, 
36,  87. 

Conway,  M.  D.,  IV.  4. 

Cook,  Prof.  A.  S.,  II.  41. 

Cooke,  John,  VI.  86;  Miles,  VII. 
26. 

Cooley,  Judge,  decision  of,  V.  15; 
opinion  of,  18. 

Cooper,  Robert,  VII.  34,  35;  An- 
thony Ashley,  XII.  7. 

Corinth,  I.  22. 

Coroner  excused  from  vestry,  VI. 
14,  37. 

Council  of  Plymouth,  XI.  7, 8, 10, 16. 

Counters  of  tobacco,  VI.  19,  32,  41, 
44,  45. 

County  in  New  England,  III.  7  ;  in 
Mich.,  V.  10:  Illinois,  18;  Mas- 
sachusetts, 18;  Michigan,  18; 
Minnesota,  18;  New  York,  18; 
"Wisconsin,  18;  Connecticut,  XI. 
28;  origin  of  in  South  Carolina, 
XII.  2U ;  court  in  Virginia,  III. 
7;  commissioners  in  111.  under 
constitution  of  1818,  10 ;  under 
present  laws,  15;  government, 
(Illinois),  111.  16,16^17;  (Penn- 
sylvania), 23, 27,  33  ;  board  in  Illi- 
nois, III.  15, 16  ;  clerk,  16  ;  super- 
intendent of  schools,  16;  judge, 
16;  officers  in  Penna.,  see  asses- 
sors, clerks,  commissioners,  audi- 
tors, treasurers,  etc. ;  (Michigan) 
supervisors,  V.  13;  aid  to  schools, 
18;  divided  into  parishes,  VI.  6, 
16;  court,  6,  14,  16,  18,  19,  20,  25, 
33,  34,  36,  38,  44  ;  Somerset,  8, 10 ; 
Calvert,  14,  42,  43;  Anne  Arun- 
del, 16;  Charles,  14,  47;  Balti- 
more, 26,  27,  38 ;  Prince  George, 
7,  30,  31,  33,  36,  46:  government 
in  South  Carolina,  XII.  24-28. 


Court  Leet,  I.  18;  in  Maryland, 
VII.  7;  procedure,  13;  deodand 
levied  by,  14;  election  of  manorial 
officers  in,  14,  36,  38;  jurisdiction 
over  Indians,  16;  origin  of,  17; 
records  of  court  leet,  St.  Clem- 
ent's manor,  31-38;  jurisdiction 
of,  VIII.  14;  court  baron  in 
Maryland,  VII.  7;  seizin  given 
in  court,  12;  procedure  in,  16; 
origin  of,  18;  swearing  of  fealty 
in,  38 ;  alienation  recorded  in,  38  ; 
records  of  court  baron,  St.  Clem- 
ent's manor,  31-38. 

Courtney,  Mayor,  XII.  36. 

Courts,  English  origin  of  in  Amer- 
ica, I.  25;  ( Pennsylvania),  courts 
in  the  17th  century,  III.  20; 
under  duke  of  York,  21 ;  court 
sessions,  21,  22,  24,  25,  27,  29,  30, 
35;  town  court,  origin  of,  22;  of 
Chester  county,  22;  of  New  Cas- 
tle, 23,  25:  of  Delaware,  24;  of 
Upland,  25,  26  ;  constables,  25 ;  of 
Whore  Hill,  25;  county  courts, 
VI.  6,  14,  16,  18,  19,  20,  25,  33,  34, 
36,38,44;  XI.  28;  XI 1.  20,27, 
ecclesiastical,  VI.  13  ;  English,  8 ; 
general  court,  XI.  11,  14,  16,  16; 
17,  18,  19,  20,  21,  22,  23,  24,  2ft,  26, 
27,  28;  particular,  17;  held  at 
Charleston,  XII.  18,  19. 

Coventrv  parish,  VI.  8. 

Cowan,  A.,  VI.  41,  42. 

Crofts,  Mr.,  XII.  87. 

Crook,  Joseph,  VI.  40. 

Curate,  VI.  8,  37. 

Currency,  depreciation  of  in  1779, 
III.  32. 

Cushman,  R.,  IX-X.  3. 

Customs,  parish,  VI.  9,  10,  15,  16; 
of  manors  recognized  by  Mary- 
land court  of  appeals,  VII.  19. 


D 


Dakota  school  districts,  V.  19;  local 
government  in,  20;  woman  suf- 
frage in,  24.  » 

Dallam,  Wm,  VI.  38. 

DalmatiH,  1.  11. 

Darlington  county,  XII.  20. 

Darrumple,  Wm.,  VI.  42. 

Dash,  John,  VII.  86,  37. 

Dates,  change  of,  VI.  30. 


INDEX. 


IX 


Davis,  W.  T.,  IX-X.  30. 

Dav,  Edw.,  VI.  39;  John,  39,  41. 

Deans,  Rev.  Hugh,  VI.  40,  46, 

Deed,  VII.  38. 

Delahay,  Arthur,  VII.  33,  34. 

Delaware,  III.  23,24,25;  English 
laws  in,  24. 

Demosthenes,  I.  36. 

Deodand,  VII.  14. 

Deputies,  XI.  15,  16,  19,  23,  26. 

Detroit,  V.  9,  10. 

Dexter,  Rev.  H.  M.,  II.  25. 

Dickinson,  J.,  of  Hatfield,  Mass., 
privilege  of  removing  his  house 
into  town,  II.  29. 

Diggs,  Wm,  VI.  34. 

Diocese  of  Maryland,  VI.  5,  26. 

Diocletian,  1.  11. 

Districts,  school,  in  Dakota,  V.  19; 
beginning  of  in  South  Carolina, 
XII.  17;  abolition  of,  24. 

Dixy,  W.,  IX-X.  17. 

Doctor  excused  from  office  of  war- 
den, VI.  14. 

Dollovan,  Derby,  VII.  37,  38. 

Dorchester,  XI.  11,  13;  free  school 
established  in,  XI  I.  14,  35. 

Doreimr,  Naomy,  VI.  43. 

Douglas,  Senator,  V.  19  ;   XI.  12. 

Downe,  Abraham,  VI.  43. 

Duckiiii;  stool,  VII.  36. 

Duke  of  York,  III.  20;  extent  of 
possessions  in  America,  21  ;  his 
"  Book  of  Laws,"  21  ;  adminis- 
tration of,  21,  24,  27. 

Dutch,  III.  24;  XL  10,  20,23. 

Dwiggin,  Koger,  VII.  35,  37. 

Dwight,  Rev.  T.,  II.  28;  XL  8. 


E 


Eastern  question,  I.  10. 
Easthampton,  L.  1.,  XI.  20. 
Ecclesiastical  court,  VI.  13. 
Edgar,  order  for  tithingmen,  VIII. 

10. 
Edgefield  county,  XII.  20. 
Edmonds,  James,  VII.  35,  37. 
Edmondscn,  John,  VII.  26. 
Education,  modern  plan  of,  II.  46; 

parochial,    XII.    13,  14;    county, 

26;  see  also  "Schools." 
Edward    the  Confessor,  I.  25;  IV. 

^0;  Edward  III.,  VIII.  11. 

2 


Egypt,  I.  11. 

Election  of  vestry  and  wardens  VI. 
14,  15,29,  31,  39. 

Elizabeth,  (^ueen,  IV.  3. 

Elseburgh,  constables  court  in,  III. 
25. 

Endicott,  Gov.,  IV.  11;  VIII.  28; 
IX-X.  20,  35. 

England,  American  minister  to,  1.21 ; 
municipal  election,  I.  37  ;  commu- 
nity of  pasturage  in,  I  2»);  origin 
of  local  institutions  in,  VIII.  10, 
11;  VI.  5,  7,21,25,44;  emigrants 
from,  XL  11,  12,  13;  restoration 
in,  25,  26. 

English  people  in  their  three  homes, 
I.  31  ;  kernel  of  in  America,  31  ; 
constitution,  39;  II.  23;  law,  I. 
25;  XL  10,  20;  VI.  7,  8. 

Epidauros,  I.  11. 

Episcopal  church  established  in 
South  Carolina,  XII.  9,  10. 

Erdmnnnsdoerffer,  Rrof.}  II.  40. 

Escheat,  VII.  18,  19. 

Estrays,  VII.  38. 

Evans,  A.,  I.  12. 

Evelin,  Capt.  Geo.,  VII.  7. 

Essex  Institute,  11.  36;    IX-X.  41. 


P. 


Fairfield,  XL  20,  28;   XII.  20. 

Farniington,  Conn..  XI.  18,20. 

Farrer,  Robert,  VII.  35. 

Fealty  sworn  in  court  baron,  VI  I. 
17,38;   fine  for  neglect.  33. 

Federal  constitution,  XI.  15;  con- 
vention, 15. 

Felstead,  Wm.,  VII.  35,37. 

Felt,  J.,  IX-X.  40. 

Fen  wick,  George,  XI.  7,  11,  12. 

Fines,  VI.  6,  10,  15,  16,  20,21,44. 

Finn,  Francis,  VI.  35. 

Fletchall,  Thos.  VI.  32. 

Flint.  John,  VI.  29,  35. 

Florence,  1.  28. 

Forfeiture,  VII.  19. 

Form  of  induction,  VL  30;  of  in- 
denture, 46;  of  resignation,  47. 

Foster,  Richard,  VII.  33,  :'.4,  35,  33, 

Fowler,  Sam'l,  VI.  43  ;  Joseph, V  II. 

35,  37. 
France,  I.  7. 


INDEX. 


Frank-pledge  and  tithingmen,  their 

relation,  IV.  1  ■"> 
Frazer,  Bishop,  V.  19;  Rev.  John, 

VI.  29. 
Freeman,  E.  A.,  An  Introduction  to 

American   Institutional  History, 
.  I.;   II.  62;  IV.  19. 
Free  negroes  at  the  South,  I.  7. 
Freeholder*,  VI.  6,  7,  13,  29,  81,  34, 

86,  42. 
Free  schools,  VI.  11,  12;  XII.  13, 

26-28,  29-40. 
French  towns,  I.  18;  in  northwest 

territory,  V.  8,  9. 
Fulham,  parish  records,  VIIT.  11. 
Fundamental  constitutions,  Xll.  7. 


G 


Gabriel's  war,  I.  6. 

Galpin,  V.  6. 

Gambrall,  Rev.  Theo.  C  ,  VI.  15. 

Game  protected,  VII.  35. 

Gardiner,  Capt.  Luke,  VII.  33,34, 
35,  36,  37. 

Garfield,  I.  20. 

Gaylard,  James,  VII.  35,  36. 

Gemistus,  Georsjius,  I.  11. 

General  court,  XI.  11,  14, 15, 16, 17, 
18,  19,  20,  21,  22,  23,  24,  25,  26, 
27,  28. 

Genesis  of  a  New  England  State, 
Study  VI.  By  Alexander  Johns- 
ton. 

Germanic  Origin  of  New  England 
Towns,  Study  II.  By  H.  B. 
Adams. 

Georgia,  I.  7. 

George  III.,  I.  21 ;  George  I.,  VI. 
14. 

George's,  "Wm.,  VII.  35. 

Georgetown,  VI.  37;  district  di- 
vided, XII.  20. 

Gerard,  Justinian,  VII.  35,  36,  37. 

Germany,  I.  7.  27. 

German  league,  I.  18. 

German  villages,  description  of,  II. 
14. 

Gildersleeve,  Prof.  B.  L.,  note  on 
Virginia  dialects,  I.  14.        • 

Giles,  John,  VI.  39. 

Gilman,  Pres.  D.  C.,  II.  43. 

Gittings,  Thos.,  VI.  39;  James,  41. 

Gladstone,  I.  20. 


Glebe  land,  VI.  9,  34,  40,  41,  42. 

Gofte,  XI.  25. 

Goldsmith,  VII.  33. 

Gould,  E.  R.  L.,  on  Local  Govern- 
ments Pennsylvania,  III.  20-37. 

Governor,  appoints  justices  of  peace 
in  Va.,  III.  7,  22,  23,  25,  ■>'.)■ 
Gov.  Lonir,  II.  7;  VI.  7,  8, 10,  11, 
18,  14,  19,  21,  22,  30,  37;  Stuyve- 
sant,  XL  13;  election  of,  15;  du- 
ties, 16,  23,  24  ;  Winthrop,  26,  20  ; 
deputv,  26,  29. 

Grain,  VI.  25,  42. 

Granville,  Rev.  Bevil,  VI.  47; 
county,  XII.  20. 

Graves,  T.  1X-X.  15. 

Gray,  Alex.,  VI.  42. 

Great  Britain,  I.  6,  32;  XL  28. 

Green,  J.,  on  the  origin  of  English 
townships,  I.  9;  S.  A.  Green,  IV. 
12;  James,  VII.  35,37. 

Greenwich,  XL  23. 

Griitli,  I.  18. 

Guilford,  Conn.,  XL  22,  23,  25,  27. 


H 


Haines,  E.  M.,  on  local  government, 

V.  6. 
Hale,  Chief  Justice,  VIII.  15. 
Hall,  Joseph,  VI.  42. 
Hallam,  III.  25. 
Hamilton,  John,  VII.  37;  marquis 

of,  XL  9. 
Hamor,  C.,  VII.  32. 
Hanson,  VI.  18,  21,  25;    Edmond, 

VII.  34. 
Harbin,   Wm.,  VI.   29,  31;   Edw. 

Villers,  37. 
Harding,  John,  VI.  31. 
Harris^urg,  I.  34. 
Harrison,  Wm.,  VII.  37. 
Hart,  Rich.,  VII.  37. 
Hartford,   XL    10,  11,  14,  18,  28; 

treaty  of,  13,  23. 
Hatfield  side-meeting,  II.  32. 
Hayward,  IX-X.  47,  48. 
Haywood,  Raphael,  VII.  34. 
Heighe,  James,  VI.  42,  43,  45. 
Hengest,  I.  15. 
Herzegovinia,  I.  12. 
Hewes,  Thos.,  leader  of  Dorchester 

employes,  IX-X.  7. 
Hickman,  Wm.,  VI.  45. 


INDEX. 


XI 


Higginson,  Rev.  F.,  on  attractions 
of  Salem,  IX-X.  23,24. 

Highway  commissioners  in  111.,  III. 
12,  13;  how  controlled  in  bouth 
Carolina,  XII.  26. 

Hillry,  Thos.,  VI.  43. 

Hilton  county,  XII.  20. 

Historical  society  Maryland,  I.  9, 
10. 

History,  progress  of  English  insti- 
tutional, VIII.  4. 

Hog-reeves,  functions  and  elections 
of,  VIII.  34,  35. 

Holland,  I    17;   Wm.,  VI.  44. 

Hollister,  XI.  8. 

Holmea(r)d,  James,  VI.  29,  31. 

Holmes,  Wm.,  XI.  10. 

Homoselle,  story  of  Gabriel's  war 
I.  6. 

Hoskins,  Jno.,  VII.  35,  37. 

House  of  Commons,  I.  32;  II.  19; 
house  of  representatives,  of  lords, 
I   32 

Howard,  G.  E.,  II.  41;  J.  B.,  VI. 
41 ;  T.  G.,  41. 

Howison's  history  of  Virginia,  I.  6. 

Hubbard,  Bela,  V.  8 ;  on  Capt. 
Standisb,  IX-X.  7,  8. 

Hue  and  cry,  VII.  15. 

Hull,  Gov.  V.  10. 

Humboldt,  II.  48. 

Humphrey,  J.,  VIII.  5. 

Hundreds  in  Pennsylvania,  III.  26  ; 
in  Maryland,  relation  of  parish 
to,  VI.  6,  32;  constable  of,  8; 
counters  in,  32,  41  ;  in  South  Car- 
olina, new  parishes  settled  on  the 
basis  of,  XII.  14,  15. 

Hundredmen,  institution  of,  IV.  17. 

Huntington,  XI.  20,  23;  shire,  II. 
19. 

Hutchens,  Nich.,  VI.  40. 

Huxlev's  method  of  teaching,  II.  48. 


Idaho  schools,  V.  21. 

Illinois,  New  England  and  Virginia 
systems  of  local  government  in, 
III.  7;  part  of  original  Virginia 
grant,  III.  8;  French  occupation 
and  early  French  settlements  of, 
8;' taken  by  Virginians  in  revo- 
lutionary war,  8;  organized  as  a 


Virginia  county,  8;  ceded  to  IT. 
S.,  8;  first  territorial  trrant,  '.< ; 
admission  to  Union  and  first  con- 
stitution respecting  local  institu- 
tions, 9,  10;  constitution  of  1847, 
11  ;  adoption  of  township  system, 
11-18;  town  officers  and"  func- 
tions, 13;  V.  14,  16;  school?,  III. 
14,  15;  county  government,  15, 
16;  taxes,  16,  17;  village  organi- 
zation, 17,  18;  chy  do.,  18;  V.  7, 
25;   XI.  5. 

Illvrian  emperors  and  their  land,  I. 
11  :   letters,  12. 

"Impressions  of  America,"  Free- 
man's, I.  19. 

Indenture,  form  of,  VI.  46. 

Independence,  War  of,  I.  18,  '21,22, 

Indiana,  local  government  of.  V.  22. 

Indians  in  Plymouth  colony,  IV.  9; 
in  Maryland,  VII.  15,  16;  under 
jurisdiction  of  court  leet,  33;  XI. 
11,  12,  14,  17,  18,  28. 

Induction  of  minister,  VI.  7,  30; 
form  of,  30. 

Ingram,  Hannah,  VI.  42. 

Ingle,  Edward,  Parish  Institutions 
of  Maryland,  VI. 

Innkeeper,  excused  from  vestrv,  VI. 
39. 

Inspectors  of  tobacco,  VI.  19,  36,  45, 

Institutions,  American,  I.  15-17; 
parochial  and  manorial, VIII.  14  ; 
of  Maryland,  VI.;   VII. 

Institutional  history,  study  of.  I. 
13,  14;  a  science  of  modern  ori- 
gin, IV.  17. 

Interest,  rate  of,  VI.  23,  35. 

Introduction  to  American  Institu- 
tional History,  Study  I.  By  K. 
A.  Freeman. 

Iowa,  local  government  in,  V.  22. 

Italy,  I.  11,  19. 

Ithaca,  I.  10. 


Jackson,  Wm.,  VI.  29, 

Jacob,  38;   Thos.,  VII 

James  I .,  Sunday  Act,  1  V 

.James,  Michael"  VII.  31 

Jefferson,  Thos.,  his  conn 

the  ordinance  of  17*7, 

local  government,  V.  - 


50, 

',i,  ; 

•  3; 

XI 

•ctii 

II  w 

III 

N  j 

Ml 


INDEX. 


Jesuits'  estates  in  Maryland,  VII. 
20. 

Johns,  Rich.,  VI.  41. 

Johnson,  John,  I.  13 ;  on  Old  Mary- 
land Manors,  VII.;  Rev.  Thos  , 
VI.  37. 

Johnston,  Dr.  Chris.,  Jr.,  VII  29; 
Alexander,  The  Genesis  of  a  Now 
England  State  (Connecticut).  X  1. 

Joppa,  VI.  37,  40,  41,  42;  VII.  6. 

Jordan,  Thos.,  VII.  87. 

Judd,  H  ,  his  MS.  collection,  II.  30. 

Judges  of  Michigan,  V   11. 

Judicial  system  of  Illinois,  III.  16. 

Justices  of  peace  in  Virginia,  III. 
7  ;  in  Illinois,  It,  13, 14 :  in  Penn- 
sylvania, 23,  27;  in  Maryland, 
VI.  5,  14,  33,36. 

Jury,  under  Duke  of  York's  admin- 
istration, III.  21,  22;  grand,  VI. 
13,  89;  XI.  28;  trial  by,  XI.  17. 


Kallikratidas,  I.  20. 

Kansas,  schools,  V.  21 ;  townships, 

22  ;  woman  suffrage,  24,  25. 
Keith,  George,  VII.  35. 
Kemble  on  Frith borgas,  IV.  16. 
Kentucky,  local  government  in,  V. 

23  ;  woman  suffrage,  24. 

Kent  county,  VII.  8;  Fort  Manor, 
8 ;  Island,  early  courts  on,  24. 

King,  XI.  6,  7,  9,  10,  14,  15,  20,  25, 
26,  27,  29. 

Kingsley,  C,  II.  42. 

Kingston-on-Thames,  parish  records 
of,  VIII.  11;  county,  XII.  20. 

Knape,  John,  VII.  34. 

Knott,  Francis,  VII.  37. 

Korkyra,  I.  22. 

Kovalevsky,  Prof.  M.,  II.  52,  53,  54. 

Kyrene,  I.  23. 


Lamar,  Thos.,  VI.  32. 

Lambard,  W.,  extract  from,  IV.  12, 

13;  VIII.  3;   on  constables  and 

tithingmen,  13. 
Lancaster  county,  XII.  20. 
Lands,  town,  XI.  16. 
Lanman,  Prof.  C.  R.,  II.  46. 


Lannum,  Ralph,  VI.  83. 

Lathrop,  Capi.,  massacre  of  his  men 
at  Bloody  Brook,  IX-X.  46. 

Latrobo,  J.  H.  B..  I.  8. 

Laurens  county,  XII.  20. 

Law,  English, "XI.  10;  parish,  VI. 
7;  penal,  9,  27. 

Lawson,  Anthony,  parliament  held 
at  house  of,  XII.  8. 

Leatherbury,  John,  VI.  38. 

Leckv  on  French  centralization,  V. 
8.  " 

Lee,  J.  W.  M.,  I.  8;  Joshua,  VII. 
35,  37;  John,  37. 

Lefebur.   Capt.  Peter,  VII.  35,  37. 

Lefevre's  letter  to  the  Times  on 
"Commons,"  II.  22. 

Legislatures  in  New  England,  rep- 
resentatives from  towns,  III.  6; 
how  corrupted,  V.  7. 

Leipzig,  I.  28. 

Lendrum,  Andrew,  VI.  46 

Leslie,  Copt.,  invasion  of  "  North 
Fields,"  IX-X.  39,  40. 

Lewger,  John,  VII.  29. 

Lewis,    Lawrence,    Jr.,    III.    20; 

Lewisburgh  county,  XII.  20. 

Lexington  county,  XII.  20. 

Liberty  county,  XII.  20. 

Libraries.  Whittingham,  VI.  5,  12  ; 
parish,   10.  11,  44. 

Liddiard,  Thos.,  VII.  37. 

Lincoln  county,  XII.  20. 

Lingan.  Thos.,  VI.  43. 

Local  Government  in  Illinois  and 
Pennsylvania,  Study  III.  By 
Albert  Shaw  and  E.  R.  L.  Gould. 

Local  Government  in  Michigan  and 
the  Northwest,  Study  V.  By 
Edward  W.  Bemis. 

Local  Government  and  Free  Schools 
in  South  Carolina,  Study  XII. 
By  B.  J.  Ramage. 

Local  institutions  of  U.  S.,  I.  5 ; 
V.  22 ;  the  basis  of  national,  II, 
49;  importance  of.  III.  20;  devel- 
opment of,  20;  V.  23.  24;  how 
to  be  studied,  III.  20 ;  govern- 
ment in  Pennsylvania;  III;  not 
changed  by  revolution,  28,  37  ; 
compromise  between  northern 
and  southern,  32;  characteristic 
features,  32,  33,  37  ;  ignorance  of, 
V.  5;  advantages  of,  7;  meaning 
of,  6 ;  genesis  of  in  northwest,  11 ; 


INDEX. 


-Mil 


character  of  in  Michigan,  15;  in 
south,  23,  24;  in  west,  24;  in 
general,  25;  in  South  Carolina, 
early  methods  of,  XII.  8,  9  ;  pres- 
ent need  of,  27,  28. 

Locke,  John,  his  constitution  for 
Carolina,  XTI.  7 

London.  I.  28  ;  Bishop  of,  VI.  7,  9, 
30  ;  merchant  of,  33. 

Long  Island,  III.  26;  XI,  9,  12; 
towns,  20. 

Lord,  Rev.  Jos.,  XII.  35. 

Lord's  waste,  assignment  of,  IT.  21. 

Lotteries  to  open  roads,  III.  29  ;  to 
build  churches,  III.  29. 

Louisiana,  I.  18;  women  eligible  to 
school  offices,  V.  24. 

Lowell  Institute,  I.  1. 

Lucas,  Thos.,  VI.  31,32. 

Ludlam,  Rev.  Mr.,  XII,  34. 

Lutton,  Caleb,  VI.  29,  31. 


M 

Maeaulay,  I.  33. 

Mace,  Clove,  VII.  34;  Kowland, 
31,  32. 

MacPherson,  Rev.  Mr.,  VI.  21. 

Macy,  Prof.,  of  Iowa  College,  11.50. 

Magistrates,  XL,  13,  14,  15,  16,  17, 
21,  22,  23,  26,  27. 

Magruder,  Alex.,  VI.  32,  36;  Sam- 
uel, 35;  Ninnian,  35. 

Manchester  guardian,  I.  12. 

Maine,  I.  26. 

Mantield,  Vincent,  VII.  37. 

Mannyng,  Thos.,  VII.  34. 

Manor,  mode  of  erecting  in  Mary- 
land, VII.  7;  E-velinton,  7;  Bo- 
hemia, 8:  Doughoregan.  8;  Great 
Oak,  8  ;  Kent  Fort,  8  ;  My  Lady's, 
8;  Nanticoke,  8;  Queen  Anne's, 
8;  Susquehanna,  8;  buildings  and 
grounds,  9;  St.  Gabriel's,  12;  St. 
Michael's,  19:  Newtown,  20; 
Cooke's  Hope, -26;  courts  of,  (see 
court  leet  and  court  baron.) 

Manorial  system  of  England,  VII. 
7. 

Manors  in  Pennsylvania,  III.  26; 
in  Maryland.  26;  in  New  York, 
26; 

Mansell,  John,  VII.  31,  32. 

Mansfield,  John,  VII.  33. 


Manual  labor-schools,  VI.  12. 
Marblehead,  IX-X.  32. 
Marim  county,  XII.  20. 
Marlborough  county,  XII.  20. 

Marriage,    VI.  10,*18,  38.    39,  45, 

46. 
Marsh,  Rich.,  VII.  35. 

Marshall,  W.,  IX-X.  59. 

Maryland,  laws  of,  I.  8;  historical 
society,  9;  institutions,  13,  16; 
parishes  of,  VI  ;  diocese  of,  5,  26  ; 
manuscripts,  12;  convention  of, 
25;  manors,  VII;  planters,  first 
generation  of,  6. 

Massachusetts,  institutions,  I.  13; 
customs,  14;  governor,  35;  his- 
torical society.' IV.  12,  VIII.  3; 
laws  in  Michigan,  V.  10;  women 
suffrage  in,  24,  25;  need  of 
county  supervisor  of  schools,  18; 
power  of  town  in.  15,  16;  fish- 
eries, first  colonial  enterprise, 
IX-X.  9;  general  court,  IX-X. 
43,  44,  68;  colonial  harvest  law, 
45;  aristocratic  feeling  in  col- 
ony, 47;  towns,  XI.  5,  11,  13; 
boundary,  10,  13,  26;  traders, 
11;  congregations,  11,  12,  29; 
bav,  13;  magistrates,  13. 

Mass"alia,  I.  23. 

Mattabezeck  (Middletown),  XI.  19. 

Mayflower,  I.  15. 

Mediaeval  agricultural  communities 
of  England,  the  survival  of  the 
Teutonic  village,  II.  21. 

Mendip,  I.  12. 

Methodism,  VI.  25. 

Michigan  settled  by  New  Eng- 
enders and  New  Yorkers,  V .  12  ; 
power  of  the  governor,  13; 
woman  suffrage  in.  24,25;  local 
government  in,  10-20. 

Middletown,  XI.  20. 

Midlemore,  Josias,  VI.  46. 

Migration  of  the  modern  scholar, 
II.  44,  45;  <>n  parallels  of  lati- 
tude illustrated  in  the  colonization 
of  Illinois,  III.  5,  6. 

Milan,  I.  11. 

Miles,  Manuel,  VII.  35,  37. 

Milford,  XI.  22,  23.  25,  27. 

Miller,  Wm.,  VI.  15. 

Milner,  Isaac,  VI.  33. 

Ministers  in  Maryland,  V  I.  5;  in- 
ducted by  governor,  7;  nominees 


XIV 


INDEX. 


of  Bishop  of  London,  7 ;  life  of,  9, 
10;  employment  of,  12:  character 
of,  12,  IS;  admonish  bad  livers, 
20;  salaries  reduced,  23  ;  standing 
at  the  revolution,  24,  2"),  29,  SO, 
32,  84,  35,  37.  40,  41,  42,  44,  47, 
48 ;  see  also  Clergy. 

Minnesota,  history  of  local  govern- 
ment in,  V.  16 ;  woman  suffrage 
in,  24.  25;  town  meetings  in,  1(5 

Missouri.  I.  18;  compromise  bill  of 
1820,  III.  11;  immigration  after 
1820,  11;  local  -government  in, 
V.  22. 

Mondeford,  Francis,  VII.  35. 

Monroe,  James,  I.  6. 

Montesquieu,  on  origin  of  English 
constitution,  II.  11. 

Morgan,  L.  H.,  II.  5,  6. 

Mosby,  Wm.,  I.  6. 

Mourt's  Relation,  II.  24,  25. 

Mundell,  Root.,  VI.  36. 

Murdock,  Rev.  Geo.,  VI.  30,  31, 
32,34;  William,  35. 


N 


Narragansett  river,  XI.  9,  12,  26. 

Narrative  and  critical  history  of  the 
U.  S.,«IL  80. 

Nasse,  on  mediaeval  agricultural 
communities  in  England,  II.  18, 19. 

Nation,  The,  I.  9,  10,  11,  12. 

Naumkeag,  first  settlement  of,  IX- 
X.  13;  farming  prospects  of,  14. 

Nebraska,  schools  of,  V.  21 ;  woman 
suffrage  in,  24. 

Negroes  in  Maryland,  the  Church's 
treatment  of,  VI.  22. 

Netherlands,  Dutch,  I.  17  ;  New,  I. 
17;  XI.  10. 

Nevada,  schools  of,  V.  21 ;  town- 
ships in,  21. 

Newberry  county,  XII.  20. 

New  England  town  meeting.  I.  16; 
history,  29;  the  birth  place  of 
American  institutions,  II.  5,  6; 
character  of  its  towns,  6 ;  local 
institutions,  8;  towns,  8,28;  III.. 
6,7;  survival  of  "common  fence," 
II.  32;  origin  of  institutions, 
VIII.  12;  landing  of  armed  men 
in,  16;  State,  genesis  of  a,  XI; 
colony,  9;  union,  12,  13,  26. 


New  Hampshire,  woman  suffrage  in, 

V.  24,  25. 
New  Jersev, women  eligible  to  school 

offices,  V.  25. 
New  Haven,  I.  10;  origin  of,  XI. 

12;  colony,  17;  town  founded,  21 ; 

24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29  ;  boundaries, 

28. 
New  London,  XI.  18,  20,  28. 
Newtown,  XL  11,  13,  14. 
New  York,  governor  of,  I.  34:  III. 

26;  woman   suffrage   in.   V.    24; 

town  meeting,  16;   local  irovern- 

mcnt,  16,  17,^18:  XL  5,  18,  20. 
Nichols.  Simon,  VI.  37. 
Nekomedeia,  I.  11. 
Ninety-six,  XII.  14. 
Norman  conquest,  I.  15;  John  Nor- 
man, VII.  31,  33,  35,  36,  37. 
Norman    Constables    in    America, 

Study  VIII.     By  H.  B.  Adams. 
Norris,  Sam.,  VII.  33. 
North  and  South,  contrast  between, 

VII.  5. 
Northwestern  territory,  III    8,  9; 

local  government  in,  V.  8-20. 
Norwalk,  XL  18,  19,  20. 


0 


Oakley,  Thos.,  VII.  35. 

Oaths,  VI.  13,  14,  29,  31 ;  constab- 
ulary, VIII.  25. 

Oderic,  I.  28. 

Ogden,  Neh.,  VI.  32. 

Ohio  gives  laws  to  Michigan,  V.  10  ; 
township  officers,  14;  local  gov- 
ernment in,  22. 

Old  Maryland  Manors,  Study  VII. 
By  John  Johnson. 

Orange  county,  XII.  20. 

Orangeburgh  district,  XII.  20. 

Ordinance  of  1787,  its  fundamental 
principles,  III.  8,  9. 

Oregon,  schools  of,  V.  21 ;  woman 
suffrage  in,  24. 

Overseers  of  poor  in  Illinois,  III. 
13,  14;  in  Pennsylvania,  21 ;  offi- 
cial term  of,  21 ;  duties  of,  21,  22, 
24,  81,  34,  36;  of  highways,  25, 
27 ;  duties,  30,  34  ;  election  of,  33 ; 
how  appointed,  29. 

Oxford,  I.  26. 

Oyster  Bay,  XL  13. 


INDEX. 


XV 


Paca,  John,  VI.  39. 

Page,  Bingle,  VI.  32,  34. 

Palatine,  rights,  I.  16;  South  Caro- 
lina erected  into,  XII.  7,  8. 

Paler,  John,  VII.  35,  37. 

Palfrey  on  the  word  "town,"  II. 
26,  27. 

Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland, 
Study  VI.     By  Edward  Ingle. 

Parishes  in  Pennsylvania,  111.  21, 
22,  23,  24 ;  named  after  Saxon 
Ton,  IV.  20;  institutions  of 
Maryland,  VI ;  histories,  5,  8,  48; 
origin  of,  6;  poor,  6,  22;  relation 
to  hundreds,  6,  32;  laws,  7;  Prince 
George's,  7,29-37;  Coventry,  8; 
clerk,  8,  12,  17,  32;  extent  of,  9, 

10,  17;  customs,  9,  10,  15,  Hi; 
Stepney,  10;  libraries,  10,  11; 
Piscataway,  14;  Christ  Clmrch, 
14;  St.  James',  15,  41,  42;  St. 
Ann's,  18,  21  ;  St.  John's,  18,  19, 
29-42;  divided,  into  precincts,  19, 
44;  St.  Thomas',  21,  40;  opposi- 
tion to.  system,  23;  state  of  at 
revolution,  24  ;  do.  at  present,  26  ; 
St.  Paul's,  26,  40,  48;  records, 
27-48;  All  Saints,  42-47;  Wil- 
liam and  Mary,  47  ;  a  civil  insti- 
tution, V11I.  24:  creation  of  in 
South  Carolina,  XII.  10;  duties 
of  officers,  11 ;  different  from  those 
of  Louisiana,  16. 

Parker,  Prof.,  on  the  word  "  town," 

11.  26 ;  on  local  government,  V. 
6;  Gabriel,  VI.  44. 

Parliament,  1.  32;  XI.  15,  29. 

Patrol,  organization  of,  XII.  15-16. 

Paupers  in  Illinois,  III.  13,  14  ;  (see 
also  Poor). 

Peabody  Institute,  I.  5, 10  ;  George, 
founder  of,  II.  56. 

Pearson's  historical  maps  of  Eng- 
land, IV.  19;  VIII.  14. 

Peloponnesos,  I.  23. 

Penal  laws  read  in  church,  VI.  9,  21. 

Penance,  VI.  20,  21. 

Pendleton,  Henry,  introduces  the 
Virginia  county  system,  XII.  29. 

Penn,"\Villiam,  III.  26;  his  attitude 
towards  local  government.  37. 

Pennsylvania  laws  in  Michigan,  V. 
10;  women  eligible  to  school  of- 
fices in,  25. 


Perry,  Benj.,  VI.  34;  governor,  his 
message  to  convention  of  1805, 
XII.  23,  24. 

Pequots,  XI.  11,  14. 

Peters,  XI.  8. 

Pews,  VI.  17,  18,  31,  32,  34,39,  43. 
44,  46. 

Philadelphia,  I.  10,  34,  35. 

Phillips,  VI.  42;  Bart.,  VII.  34, 
35,  37. 

Philosophy,  Platonic,  I.  11. 

Phippen,  on  old  planters  of  Salem, 
IX-X.  -8. 

Pilgrims  build  their  first  town,  II. 
26. 

Pillory,  VII.  36. 

Pinokneysville,  XII.  35. 

Piscataway  parish,  VI.  14. 

Plan  of  parish  church,  VI.  48. 

Plantation  system  in  the  south, 
III.  7. 

Planters,  first  generation  of  Mary- 
land, vii.  <■>: 

Plymouth  settled  upon  agrarian 
principles,  II.  24,  33;  XI.  6; 
council  of,  7,  8,  10,  13,  15. 

Polfe,  William,  VI I.  37. 

Politics,  Comparative,  I.  14. 

Poll-tax  in  Illinois,  III.  13. 

Poor  in  Pennsylvania,  III.  20,23, 
25;  exempt  from  taxation,  23  ;  tux 
to  have  preference,  30;  measures 
against  imposition,  30;  record  of, 
kept,  31,  36;  measures  against 
growth  of,  31,  32;  a  township 
charge,  35;  county  regulations 
regarding,  36;  township  do.,  36; 
in  Michigan,  V.  10;  of  parish  in 
Maryland,  VI.  6,  22  ;  not  taxable, 
6 ;    (see  Paupers). 

Porter,  Henry,  VII.  35,  37. 

Poulter,  Henry,  VII.  37. 

Powell,  John]  VI.  29,  31;  Mary 
Ann,  32. 

Pratt,  E.,  II.  66:  J.,  VIII.  22. 

Precinct  of  parish,  VI.  19,  44. 

Price,  Koht.,  VI.  40. 

Prices  in  Maryland,  VI.  10.  23,31, 
32.  33,  34,  36,  38,  40.  43,   11 

Prichard,  John,  V  I.  35. 

"Prime  Ancient  Society,"   XI.  17. 

Prince  George's  parish,  VI.  7,  29- 
37  ;  county,  30,  31,  :;:;,  ::•;,  46. 

Pritchett,  John,  V  I.  2'.<. 

Private  schools  in  Maryland, VI.  12. 

Probate  judge,  XII.  27. 


XVI 


INDEX. 


Proprietors,  VI.  7,  30;  charter  of, 

XII.  7. 
Providence,  I.  10. 
Public  schools  in  Maryland,  VI.  22, 

46,  47. 
Punishments  VI.  16,  20;  VII.  34, 

86;  XI.  21,  22,  23;  (see  Fines). 
Puritans  against  intemperance,  IV. 

6. 


Q 

Quakers,  XI.  21. 
Quinnipiack,  XI.  21. 

R 

Ragusa,  I.  11,  12,  19. 

Ramage,  B.  J.,  on  free   neeroes  at 

South,   I.   7;    on   Local  Govern- 
ment and  Free  Schools  in  South 

Carolina,  XII. 
Ranters,  XI.  21. 
Rasiera,  de,  II.  29. 
Kates  and  levies,  III.  20;  town,  22, 

23  ;  public,  22  ;  how  collected,  22 ; 

county,   25;  how   expended,   27; 

basis  of,  27,  29.  34;  township,  how 

applied,  34;  limit  of.  34,  35. 
Rawlings,  Daniel,  VI.  45. 
Reader,  VI.  18. 
Records,  extracts  from  parish,  VI. 

29-48 ;  of  court  baron  and  court 

leet,  VII.  31-38. 
Rectors,  privileges  of,  XII.  10,  11  ; 

(see  Ministers). 
Register  of  vestry,  VI.  16,  27,  29, 

30,  32,  41,  43,  46. 
Representatives,  house  of,  XI.  14. 
Republicans,  I   36. 
Restoration,  XI.  25. 
Revolution,  American,  VI.  23,  24  ; 

XI.  29. 
Rhode  Island,  I.  16,  31,  34:  women 

eligible  to  school  offices  in,  V.  25; 

XI.  6,  13;  charter  of,  16,29. 
Richland  county,  XII.  20. 
Richmond,  I.  5. 
Rider,   S.   S.,  I.  40:  Simon,  VII. 

35,  37. 
Ridings,  III.  21,  22,  23. 
Ringgold.  Major  James,  VII.  8. 
Riot  in  Joppa,  VI.  40. 


Ritter,  C,  II.  48. 

Rives,  Thomas,  VII.  36.  37. 

Roads  in  Illinois,  III.  13;  and 
bridges  in  Pennsylvania.  20,  25, 
26  :  laid  out  by  order  of  governor 
and  council,  29;  by  grand  jury, 
29;  people  work  on,  26,  80,  35; 
viewers  of,  29,  35 ;  damages,  how 
awarded.  35;  in  Michigan,  V.  10; 
parish,  XII.  12;  county,  26. 

Roberts,  John,  VI.  40. 

Robertson,  Sam'l,  VI   45. 

Rome,  Old  and  New,  I.  11. 

Rookes,  Chas.,  VII.  37. 

Roswoll,  William,  VII.  S3,  34; 
John,  37. 

Rovce,  Dr.,  II.  44. 

Ruck,  John,  II.  10. 

Rumsey,  B..  VI.  41. 

Kunsdall,  Edw.,  VII.  34. 


s. 


Sabbath  breakers,  VI.  6,  15,  21; 
Act  for  observance  of,  XII.  9. 

Sage,  James,  VI.  38. 

Saxon  Tithinscmen  in  America, 
Study  IV.     By  H.  B.  Adams 

St.  Clement's  island,  VII..  29; 
manor,  records  of  court  leet  of, 
31-38. 

St.  James'  parish,  VI.  15,  41,  42; 
(Santee)  school  in,  XII.  14; 
Ames,  VI.  18,  21  ;  Thomas',  21, 
40  ;  school,  XII.  14;  Paul's,  VI. 
26,  40,  48;  John's,  18,  29-42. 

St.  Louis,  I.  10. 

St.  Mary's  city,  VII.  5;  county,  7. 

St.  Patrick's  creek,  VII.  29. 

Salaries  in  Maryland,  VI.  5,  8,  9, 
10,  18,  23,  24,  25,  30,  31,  32,  34, 
38,  39.  40,41,  42,43. 

Salem,,  its  communal  domain.  II. 
36;  town  records,  IV.  2,  IX-X. 
72;  origin  of  name,  IX-X.  16; 
ministers  of,  21;  commercial 
record,  26;  house-lots,  31,  32; 
land  grants,  33;  maids'  lots,  35; 
common  fields,  38,  48;  do. 
meadows,  52,  53;  do.  woodlands, 
54;  do.  pastures,  55-58;  town- 
herds,  58  ;  cattle-range,  63 ;  agra- 
rian laws,  64;  cottage  rights,  65: 
cottagers,  66 ;  old  commoners  con- 


INDEX. 


XVII 


trol  town  meetings,  69;  town 
common,  origin  of,  72;  reserva- 
tion of  public  lands,  73,  74; 
division  of  commons,  75,  76; 
great  pastures,  76,  77  ;  survival  of 
archaic  customs,  77-79. 

Salisbury,  great  council  of,  I.  26. 

Salley,  Benj.,VIL  35,  37. 

Samson,  Robt.,  VII.  37. 

Sandwich  records,  11.35. 

Saunders,  John,  VII.  35. 

Saunderson,  Rich.,  VII.  35,  37. 

Say,  XL  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  15. 

Savbrook,  (Seabrook),  XI.  11,  12, 
20. 

Schmid,  R.,  on  frankpledge,  IV.  15. 

School  lands,  the  basis  of  local 
government,  III.  10;  organiza- 
tion in  Illinois,  14,15;  funds,  15; 
relation   of  to  local  government, 

V.  18,  19;  district  in  Dakota,  19; 
government  in  Michigan,  19,  20; 
Montana,  Idaho,  Washington 
Ter.,  Oregon,  Wyoming  Ter., 
Colorado,  California,  Nebraska, 
Kansas,  Nevada,  21;  South  Car- 
olina, Tennessee,  Virginia,  West 
Virginia,  23;  in  Maryland,  free, 

VI,  11,  12;  private,  12;  manual 
labor,  12;  charity,  22;  •  public, 
22,  46,  47;  commisioners  in  South 
Carolina,  XII.  26;  free  in  do. 
29-40;  normal,  40. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  II.  21;  Han- 
nah, VI.  39. 

Seager,  Thos.,  VI.  42,  43. 

Sectionalism  in  Illinois,  XII.  11. 

Sele,  XL  7,  8,  11,  12,  15. 

Senate,  L  32,  33,  XL  14,  16. 

Serfdom,  Indian,  IV.  10. 

Setauket,  XL  20. 

Sexton,  VI.  18,  39,  42,  43,  45. 

Shadock,  Henry,  VII.  35,  37. 

Shaftsbury,  Earl  of,  one  of  the  pro- 
prietors of  South  Carolina,  XII.  7. 

Shankes,  Jno.,  VII.  34,  35,  36,  37. 

Sharpe,  Gov.,  VI.  7,  21,  22. 

Shaw,  A.,  II.  50;  on  Local  Govern- 
ment in  Illinois,  III.  5-19. 

Sheffield,  Lord,  patent  to  Plymouth 
colony,  IX-X.  3. 

Shepherd,  Henrv,  E.,  I.  8. 

Sheredine.  Thos",  VI.  39. 

Sheriff,  111.  21,  22,  24,  25,  VI.  8, 
21,  33,  39,  40,  44,  45. 


Shirlev,   J.,    letter  of  to    Bradford, 

IX-X.  5. 
Shrewsberry  county,  XII.  20. 
Sidesman,  duties  of,  VIII.  2:'>. 
Sirnp.-.in,    William,    VII.    35,   37; 

Marmaduke,  37. 
Sinclair,  ,S't/-  John,  II.  19. 
Skinner,  John,  VI.  45. 
Slavery,  effect  on  manorial  svstem, 
VII.  21. 
!  Sligh,  Thos.,  VI.  39. 
j  Slv,  Kob't,  VII.  34,  35;  Gerard,  37. 
!  Smith,  T.,  IV.  19;  VIII.  14;  John, 
VI.  42,  43:   Wm.,  43;    Richard, 
43;  VII.  33;    Nicholas,  37;    Sir 
Thomas,  VIII.  14;    CW.  John, 
IX-X.  7. 
Society,  manorial,  type  of,  VII.  8. 
•  Pollers,    B.,   on    Palatinate  of   Dur- 
ham, I.  16  ;  Sabrit,  V  1.  4:;. 
:  "  Somerleaze,"  I.  12. 
i  Somerset,  I.  8, 10;  county,  VI.  8, 10. 
1  South  field  proprietarv,  Salem,  rec- 
ords of,  IX-X.  46,  4*7. 
'  Southampton,  XL  19,  20. 
|  Soutbold,  XL  20,  22,  24,  25. 
;  Spain,  I.  23. 

Spalato,  I.  11. 
I  Spanish  conquest,  I.  15. 
',  Spartanburgh,  XII.  20. 

Spelman,  IV.  21. 
I  Sports  in  colonial  Maryland, VII.  11. 
j  Sprigg,  John,  VII.  37. 
!  "Squatter  Sovereignty,"  XI.  12. 
j  Staliinges,  Rich.,  VI.* 44,  45,  46. 
Stamford,  XL  17,  22,  2:'.,  24,  25. 
j  Standish,  Capt.  Miles,  VIII.  16. 

Stanlev,  Jno.,  VII.  ■',!. 
;  StarbuVk,  Mary,  IX-X.  34. 
;  State  government  in  Virginia,  III. 
7;    genesis   of    a    New    England 
State,   XI:    Church  and  Stat.'  in 
Connecticut,    15,    17,   21,   22,   2:1, 
24;    reconstruction   of,    in    South 
Carolina,  XII.  22,  23. 
■  Stepney  parish,  VI.  10. 
|  Steward  of  manor,  VII.  12,  31,  33, 
34,  35,  36. 
Stirling,  earl  of,  XI.  9,  12,  20. 
Stockbridge,    peaceful     Indians   of, 

IX-X.  17. 
Stocks,  VII.  36;  (spc  Punishments  ) 
Stone,  F.  I'.,  HI-  26. 
Stoughton,  T.,  Vlll.  27. 
Stratford,  XL  20. 


XV111 


INDEX. 


Stringham,  Dr.,  II.  44. 

Stubbs,  I.  26,  27,  III.  25,  IV.  14, 

19,  VIII.  9. 
•'Studies  in  Historical  and  Political 

Science,"  I.  12,  11.  8ft 
Stuyvesant,  Governor,  XI.  13. 
Suffrage,  conditions  as  to  sex,  V. 

24;     as    to    age,    in     Michigan, 

14. 
Sumnar,  Robt.,  VI,  46. 
Supervisors',  board  of,  in  Michigan, 

V.  15,  17,  18;   in  Wisconsin,   17, 

18;  in  Minnesota,  17,  18;  in  New 

York,  18. 
Supreme  court,  I.  25. 
Survey   of  public   lands,   effect  on 

local  institutions,  III.  10. 
Surveyor  of  county,  III.  33. 
Suttle*  Jno.,  VII.  87. 
Sutton,  Francis,  VII.  31. 
Switzerland,  I.  16,  18,  19,  29. 
Sydesman,  (see  Sidesman). 
Syracuse,  I.  22. 

T. 

Tacitus,  I.  28,  31 ;  on  German  vil- 
lages, II.  12;  on  lands,  16. 

Talbot,  George,  VII.  8. 

Tax,  assessor  in  Illinois,  III.  12,  14, 
16,  17;  collector,  12,  14,  16;  paid 
in  kind  in  Pennsylvania,  23;  poll, 
25,  27,  28;  levied  for  one  year 
only,  27;  on  bachelors,  VI.  21. 

Taxables  in  Maryland,  VI.  6,  8,  21, 
44. 

Taxation  in  Illinois,  III.  17 ;  ex- 
emptions from,  23,  28;  appeals 
from,  how  tried,  27,  28,  34;  sub- 
jects of,  29;  in  Michigan,  V.  10, 
14,  16;  ip  New  York,  16. 

Tenants  on  manors,  VII.  10. 

Tennessee,  local  government  in,  V. 
23. 

Tennison.  Jno.,  VII.  36,  37. 

"Terra  Mariae."  I.  16. 

Territorial  claims  of  Connecticut, 
XI.  7-10. 

Teutonic  race,T.  11,13,15;  councils, 
the  seeds  of  modern  institutions, 
II.  13. 

Texas,  XI.  5,  6. 

Thomas,  Rev.  Samuel,  XII.  33. 

Thomlinson,  Grove,  VI.  31,  32. 


Thompson,  Gov.,  advocates  local 
support  of  free  schools,  XII.  27  ; 
:'.!»,  40. 

"Three-field  system,"  II.  16,  17. 

Tit'rnan's,  Mrs.,  novel  "  Homoselle," 

I.  6. 

Tilden,  Marmaduke,  VII.  7. 

Tipstaff,  emblem  of  constabulary 
office,  IV.  1 ;  do.  of  royal  author- 
ity. V11I.  81. 

Tithing,  probable  origin  of,  IV. 
18;  with  Saxon  ending  ton  identi- 
cal with  parish,  IV.  20. 

Tithingman,  a  kind  of  Sunday 
constable,  IV.  1,  2;  functions  of, 

IV.  5,6:  authority  of,  extended  to 
family,  7;  origin  of,  8;  and  petty 
constable,  IV.  20;  an  elective  offi- 
cer, 21,22;  patriarchal  office  of,  22. 

Tobacco  in  Maryland,  VI.  6.  8,  10, 

15,  16,  19,  29,'  30,  32,  33,  39,  40, 
43,  44,  45. 

Tocqueville,  on  New  England,  III. 

G. 
Tolley,  Walter,  VI.  38,  39,  40,  41. 
Town,  applied  to  collection  of  houses, 

I I.  28  ;  how  applied  in  New  Eng- 
land, 28;  in  Pennsylvania,  offi- 
cers, how  chosen,  111.  21 ;  by-laws 
of,  21  ;  court  of,  22,  23,  24  ;  status 
of,  under  proprietary  government, 
27;  meeting,  I.  13;  III.  6;  in 
Illinois,  12, 13  ;  importance  of,  V. 
6;  in  Michigan,  10,  11,  14,  15; 
in  Wisconsin.  Minnesota,  New 
York,  16  ;  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Iowa, 
22;  land,  II.  22;  XI.  16;  brook, 
25 ;  neck  of  Cape  Cod,  survival  of 
land  community,  34 ;  Sunday  pas- 
tures of  do.,  1X-X.  69;  officers  in 
Illinois,  III.  12 ;  clerk,  12,  13,  14  ; 
supervisor,  12,  13;  auditors,  14; 
board  of  health,  in  Massachusetts, 

V.  15,  16;  XI.  5,  11,  13;  in 
Maryland,  Charles,  VI.  9;  An- 
napolis, 17,  19,  21,  23;  George, 
37;  Joppa,  37,  40,  41,42,46;  in 
Connecticut,  XI.  14  ;  magistrates, 
14,  16,  17.  19,  21.  22,  23 ;  commis- 
sioners, 16,  19,  27  ;  local  affairs  of, 

16,  17,  23;  incorporated.  18,  19; 
rates,  19.  20,  24;  of  Long  Island, 
20;  burgesses  of,  21,  23. 

Townships,  the  town's  landed  do- 
main, II.  28;   in  New  England, 


INDEX. 


XIX 


III.  6,  7;  in  Illinois,  11,  12;  in 
Pennsylvania,  officers  of,  (see  As- 
sessors, clerk,  overseers,)  manage- 
ment of  roads  vested  in,  30,  35; 
road-tax  of,  30;  poor-tax  of,  31; 
in  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Ohio, 
Indiana,  V.  17  ;  in  New  York, 
18;  in  Nevada,  Nebraska,  Iowa, 
Kansas,  Missouri,  22;  XI.  6,  11. 

Tramps,  law  against,  VJLI1.  26. 

Trask,  W.  B.,  VIII.  5. 

Traske,  Jas.,  VII.  37. 

Treasurer,  of  county,  III.  28,  33; 
of  township,  33. 

Treat,  Rev.  Mr.,  on  Indian  institu- 
tions, IV.  9,  10. 

Trier,  I.  11. 

Trumbull,  XI.  8. 

Trustee  of  township  in  Ohio  and 
Indiana,  V.    17. 

"  Tun,"  its  identity  with  "Town," 
II.  31. 

Turk,  I.  11. 

Turner,  Ed.,  VII.  33-;  Jno.,  35. 

Tyson,  John,  VI.  36. 


IT. 


Union,  New   England,  XI.  12,  13; 

of  towns,  22;  of  Connecticut  and 

New  Haven,  25-29;  county,  XII. 

20. 
United    States,  best  historical  field 

for    Americans,    I.    10;     English 

kernel  of,  XI.  6. 
Unity  of  English  people,  I.  20. 
University,  Johns  Hopkins,  I.  7,  8, 

16,  13,   14;  Cornell,  7,29;   Yale, 

29;    Harvard,  29;  Studies,  II.  52. 
Upgate,   Rich.,  VII.  35,  37;  John, 

37. 
Upham,  W.  P.,  on  the  first  houses 

in  Salem,    IX-X.  28;  C.  W.,    on 

Salem  common  lands,  IX-X.  39. 
Uri,  I.  16,  39. 
Utah,  woman  suffrage  in,  V.  25. 


Venice,  The  Subject  and  Neighbor 

Lands  of,  I.  11. 
Vermont,    woman    suffrage   in,    V. 

24,25;  XI.  6. 


Vestry,  origin  of  select,  VI.  6,  7  ; 
duties  of/8,  11,  13,  16,  18,  19,  20, 
21,  22,25,26,  27,  ::0,  31,  32,  36, 
37,  38,  39,40,41.  XII.  11;  man- 
ner  of  electing,  VI.  13,  14,  25, 
26,  27.  XII.  11;  qualifications  of, 
VI.  14;  foreman  of,  14;  house, 
15,  31,  32,  38,  41 ;  meeting,  15,  27, 
29-45;  clerk  of,  16.  18,  32,  33,  36, 
37,  39,  41,  43,  44;  number  of, 
XII.  11. 

Village  community  system,  1.  14; 
organization  in  Illinois,  111.  17, 
18  ;  in  Michigan,  V.  15. 

Virginia,  I.  5,  6,  7,  16,  17,  18; 
Saxon  dialects  in,  II.  42  ;  planta- 
tion system,  III.  7;  laws  in 
Michigan,  V.  10;  fleet,  VI.  10; 
College  Koval  in,  12;  clergy,  24; 
XII.  17,  20. 

Voltaire's  opinion  of  Montesquieu's 
teutonic  predilections,  II.  11. 

Von  Hoist,  on  local  government, 
V.  16. 

w. 

Wads  worth,  VI.  43. 

Wages,  (see  Salarv). 

Wait/.,  G.,  IV.  14. 

Wallace,  on  lands  in  Russia,  II.  18. 

Ward,  derivation  of,  VIII.  23. 

Warden,  church,  duties  of,  VI.  9, 
13,  15,  25,  27.  32,  33,  40;  election 
of,  14,  15,  29,  31,  37  ;  qualifica- 
tions of,  14,  15. 

Warwick,  Earl  of,  XI.  7,  8,  9,  10, 15. 

Washington,  I.  18,  20;  territory, 
schools  in,  V.  21  ;  woman  sutfrage 
in,  24;  county,  XII.  20. 

AVaters,  H.  F.,  communication  to 
Salem  gazette,  IX   X.  79-81. 

Watertown,  XI.  11,  13,  14. 

Watts,  Win.,  VII.  35,  36,  37. 
[  Wells,  Martin,  VI.  44. 
|  Welsh  barony,  III.  26. 

Wenham,town  and  common,  IX-X. 
51,52. 

West,  Win..  VII.  35,  37. 

West  Virginia,  local  government 
in,  V.  28. 

Wethersford,  XI.  11,  14,  17,  18. 

Whallev,  XI.  25. 
I  Wheatland,  Dr.  11.,  IX-X.  77. 


XX 


INDEX. 


White,  J.,  character  and  career  of, 

IX-X.  19;  Planters' plea,  IX-X. 

66. 
"Whittingham,  Bishop,  his  legacy  to 

the  diocese  of  Maryland,  VI.  5; 

library  of,  5,  12. 
Wickham,  Nath.,  VI.  29,  31. 
"Wickocomacoe  Indians,  VII.  33. 
Wilkinson,  Rev.  Mr.,  VI.  20;  Jos., 

44;   Win.,  VII.  37. 
"William  the  Conqueror,  I.  1,  35; 

III,  VI.  14;  and  Mary  parish,  47. 
Williams,  Michael,  VII.  37;   Ed., 

87;  R.,  IX-X.  6;  H.  L.,  40. 
Williamson,  Rev.  Alex.,  VI.  8,  15  ; 

Rev.  James,  44,  46. 
Willey,  Humphrey,  VII.  37. 
Wilmott,  Rich.,  VI.  40. 
Winchester,  statute  of,  VIII.  9. 
Windson.XI.  10,  11,  18. 
Winslow,  E.,  IX-X.  3. 
Winsor,  J.,  II.  40. 
Winter     Island,     reservation     on, 

IX-X.  74. 


Winthrop,  A.,  VIII.  3;  R.  0.,  3; 

governor,  XI.  25,  26. 
Winton  county,  XII.  20. 
Wingan  county,  XII.  20. 
Williamsburg  county,  XII.  20. 
Wisconsin,  I.  6,  18;  women  eligible 

to  school  offices  in,  V.  25. 
Woman  suffrage  in  U.  S.,  V.  24. 
Wood,     Francis,     VII.     37;     W., 

sketch  of  Salem,  IX-X.  24,  25. 
Woodbury,  J.,  VIII.  27. 
Worsley,  Rev.  Geo.  H.,  VI.  41,  42. 
Worthington,  Charity,  VI.  43. 
Wyoming,  schools,  V.   21 ;  woman 

suffrage  in,  24,  25. 

Y. 

York,   I.    11;    Duke    of,   XI.   20; 
county,  XII.  20. 


Zealand,  I.  17. 


AN    INTRODUCTION    TO 


American  Institutional  History 


"The  local  annals  of  Maryland  or  of  any  other  State  are  something  more  than 
mere  local  history,  something  more  than  part  of  the  history  of  the  United  States 
or  of  the  whole  English-speaking  people.  They  are  really  contributions  to  the  gen- 
eral science  of  politics  —  no  less  than  the  lessons  which  we  should  have  had  if 
Aristotle's  comments  on  the  kindred  commonwealths  of  old  Greece  had  been  spared 
to  us." — Freeman. 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

IN 

Historical   and   Political   Science 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 


History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History.— Freeman 


AN    INTRODUCTION    TO 


American  Institutional  History 


WRITTEN  FOR  THIS  SERIES 


By  EDWARD  A.  FREEMAN,  D.C.L.,  LL.D. 


PuBI.JSHlU)  BY   THK  .lolINS   Hoi'KINS   UNIVERSITY 
B  A  L  T  Uio  R  !•: 

1882 


JOHN  MURPHY  A  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


MR.  FREEMAN'S  VISIT  TO  BALTIMORE. 

By  the   Editor. 


Mr.  Freeman  came  to  America  in  the  fall  of  1881,  on  the  joint  invita- 
tion of  the  Lowell  Institute  in  Boston  and  of  the  Peabody  Institute  in 
Baltimore.  The  united  influence  of  these  two  local  institutions,  repre- 
senting the  intellectual  union  of  Northern  and  Southern  cities,  was 
seconded  by  two  other  influences  of  a  local  character:  first,  by  Mr. 
Freeman's  natural  desire  to  visit  his  own  son,  who  married  in  Baltimore 
and  who  now  lives  upon  a  plantation  in  Virginia  ;  secondly,  by  an  ardent 
longing  to  see  with  his  own  eyes  a  New  England  Town  Meeting,  which, 
in  the  genealogy  of  local  institutions,  is  a  long-lost  child  of  Old  England 
and  a  grandchild  of  the  Fatherland.  The  historian  of  "  The  English 
People  in  their  Three  Homes  "  regards  the  local  institutions  of  the 
United  States,  North  and  South,  as  the  historic  offspring  of  England  and 
Germany,  as  truly  as  his  own  name,  once  applied  to  all  freemen  of  the 
English  Colonies  in  America,  is  directly  perpetuated  by  children  and 
grandchildren  in  the  Old  Dominion,  where  he  indulged  what  he  pleas- 
antly calls  "  oldfatherly  emotions  towards  the  last-born  bairn's  bairn," 
and  where,  true  to  historical  impulses,  he  began  a  "  Virginia  Domesday  " 
in  the  old  forms  :  "  Freeman  tenet ;  Bell  tenuit  Ante  Ouerratn.  Valebnt 
.  .  .  dollar io s ;  modo  .  .  ,  Waste  fuit."  AVith  the  grim  humor  of  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror,  who,  when  he  fell  to  the  earth  upon  landing  at 
Pevcnsey,  grasped  the  soil  and  thus  took  seizin  of  England,  Mr.  Freeman 
describes  his  son's  territorial  conquest  upon  the  shore  of  the  Rapidan, 
"  Potuit  ire  quo  voluit  aim  ista  terra,  for  the  soil  of  the  Old  Dominion 
sticketh  to  the  boots  and  is  carried  about  hither  and  thither  !  " 

This  extract  from  a  letter  dated  Somerleaze,  Rapid  Ann  Depot,  Cul- 
peper  County,  Virginia,  December  2oth,  1881,  needs  no  better  com- 
mentary than  the  following  extract  from  the  Inquisitio  Eliensis,  Domes- 
day, iii,  497  (or  Stubbs'  Select  Charters,  8G) :  "  Deinde  quomodo  vocatur 
mansio,  quis  tenuit  earn  tempore  Regis  Eadwai-di ;  quia  modo  tenet  ;  .  .  . 
quantum  valebat  totum  simul ;  et  quantum  modo;  .  .  ."  The  suggestion 
of  Domesday-forms  came  to  Mr.  Freeman  not  only  from  the  history  of 
Virginia  land-tenure,  but  from  Professor  William  F.  Allen's  paper  on 
"The  English  Cottagers  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  a  paper  which  had  been 
sent  Mr.  Freeman  in  answer  to  his  query  "about  a  man  in  Wisconsin, 
who  has  written  something  about  villainage— what  a  long  way  oil  ;•> 
know  about  such  things — how  can  I  get  it?  "     And  after  receiving    the 

5 


6  Mr.  Freeman's  Visit  to  Baltimore. 

tborfe  paper,  Mr.  Freeman  inquired  with  manifest  surprise,  "  Are  his 
cottagers  the  cotarU  t>t'  l>.  mesday  '.'"  The  historian  of  the  Normun  Con- 
quest whs  reminded  of  items  in  Domesday  by  the  "Afri"  of  the  South, 
who  still  survive  in  emancipated  forms.  The  negroes  of  the  Old  Do- 
minion are  no  longer  "  servi,"  but  their  varying  economic  condition 
might  justify  their  enumeration  in  some  such  classes  as  appear  in  the 
Norman  census:  "villani,"  "  cotarii,"  "  sochemani"  "  liberi  homines." 
It  brings  the  historiun  of  "  The  English  People  in  their  Three  Homes  " 
to  the  very  heart  of  both  North  and  South  to  think  of  him  as  spending 
Christmas  with  his  American  children  upon  a  Virginia  Plantation,  culled 
after  the  Old  Home  in  England,  "  Somerleaze,"  where,  resting  from  lec- 
ture- and  labors,  he  indulges  "oldfatherly  emotions  "  towards  his  Ameri- 
can grandchild.  It  is  pleasant  to  think  of  the  Nestor  historian  "among 
the  hills,  enjoying  the  air,  with  the  Blue  Ridge  right  in  front,"  and 
reading  a  novel  about  the  Old  Dominion  written  by  a  Virginia  lady  now 
living  in  Baltimore.  He  writes  to  this  city  for  information  touching  the 
plot  of  the  historical  novel.  "  Was  there  not  an  negro  revolt  once  here- 
abouts called  Gabriel's  War?  I  was  reading  a  pretty  story  called 
Homoselle,  where  it  comes  in,  and  I  seem  to  have  heard  of  it  before  ; 
but  nobody  here  can  tell  me.  If  the  chronology  of  the  story  be  right, 
it  must  have  been  between  1837  and  1861."  And  later  he  returns  to  the 
point :  "  I  knew  I  had  heard  something  of  that  Gabriel's  War,  but  Mrs. 
Tiernan  must  have  altered  the  date.  You  say  it  was  early  in  this  cen- 
tury ;  but  Homoselle  lies  in  the  time  1837-1801.  For,  on  the  one  hand, 
Victoria  reigns  in  Great  Britain  ;  on  the  other,  Peace  and  Slavery  reign 
in  Virginia.*     I  want  to  know  another  thing.     Homoselle  speaks  of   a 

•Gabriel's  War,  a  negro  insurrection  headed  by  a  slave  of  uncommon  ability,  known  as 
"  General  Gabriel,"  occurred  in  the  year  1S00.  The  uprising  was  planned  with  great  skill 
ami  secrecy,  and  embraced  about  one  thousand  slaves.  The  plan  was  to  make  a  night 
attack  upon  Richmond,  massacre  the  male  inhabitants,  spoil  the  city,  seize  arms,  and  create 
a  general  panic  among  whites  throughout  the  State,  whereupon,  it  was  thought,  a  general 
insurrection  could  be  kindled  among  the  slave  population.  On  the  night  of  the  proposed 
attack  there  was  a  furious  rain-storm;  but  the  slaves,  undaunted,  advanced  with  their 
scythe-blades  and  axes.  The  attack  was  frustrated  by  two  unforeseen  events,  the  rapid 
rising  of  a  creek  before  Richmond,  and  the  betrayal  of  the  plot  by  a  faithful  servant  of 
William  Mosby — a  slave  named  Pharaoh— who  swam  the  creek  at  the  risk  of  his  life 
ami  gave  the  alarm  in  Richmond.  The  town  was  at  once  put  under  arms,  and  the  slaves, 
finding  that  their  plot  was  discovered,  rapidly  dispersed.  James  Munroe  was  at  that  time 
Governor  of  Virginia  and  he  offered  a  reward  of  three  hundred  dollars  for  the  arrest  of 
Gabriel,  who  was  finally  taken  and  executed.  Many  other  conspirators  were  found  out 
and  were  duly  tried  and  convicted  by  the  court  of  "Oyer  and  Terminer,"  made  up  of 
county  justices.  The  Court  Records  of  Henrico  County  contain  evidence  upon  this  mat- 
ter, see  Howison's  History  of  Virginia,  ii,  392-3.  This  insurrection  naturally  created  the 
greatest  horror  throughout  all  Virginia,  and  the  story  of  Gabriel's  War  was  repeated  until 
it  became  a  household  tale.  The  authoress  of  Homoselle  AiA  not  need  to  consult  the  written 
history  of  Virginia  for  information,  for  the  oft-told  story  was  stamped  upon  every  child's 
imagination.  Mrs.  Tiernan  never  saw  llowisoirs  account  of  Gabriel's  War  until  after 
her  story  was  written,  the  scene  of  which  she  purposely  laid  in  later  times  of  which  she 
herself  had  personal  knowledge.  Without  regard  to  the  exact  chronology  of  Gabriel's 
War,  Mrs.  Tiernan  utilized  a  popular  tradition  for  literary  purposes,  which  is  not  only 
an  artistic  but  a  |tcrfectly  legitimate  method  in  Culturgeschichte. — H.  B.  A. 


Mr.  Freeman's  Visit  to  Baltimore.  7 

free  negro  in  Virginia.  Another  story  speaks  of  free  negroes  as  for- 
bidden to  dwell  there.  Some  of  your  students  of  State  laws  will  know 
the  date  of  that  hit  of  legislation."* 

Mr.  Freeman's  visit  to  Baltimore  occured  before  his  visit  to  Virginia. 
He  lectured  first  in  Boston,  then  at  Cornell  University,  and  immediately 
afterwards  in  Baltimoreat  the  Peabody  Institute,  beginning  November 
15  and  continuing  until  November  25.  Both  Cornell  and  Johns 
Hopkins  Universities  availed  themselves  of  Mr.  Freeman's  visit  to 
America  to  engage  him  for  short  courses  of  lectures  before  their  students. 
On  arriving  in  Baltimore,  the  first  place  Mr.  Freeman  visited  was  the 
University-Library.  Although  the  historian  professes  "  to  hate  libraries 
as  well  as  schools,"  his  professions  should  not  be  taken  quite  literally. 
He  evidently  enjoyed  what  some  peoplecall  the  "Johns  Hopkins  School," 
and  he  stayed  one  entire  forenoon,  and  came  again  the  next  day.  Ib- 
found  some  things  tha-t  he  had  never  before  seen,  and  he  manifested  con- 
siderable interest  in  the  so-called  "  New  Book  Department  " — an  arrange- 
ment for  securing  the  most  recent  scientific  literature  from  England, 
France,  and  Germany.  Mr.  Freeman  saw  at  once  the  cosmopolitan  rela- 
tions and  practical  value  of  this  department  and  also  of  the  University 
system  of  "  exchanges  "  with  tin;  proceedings  of  academies  and  other 
learned  societies  of  the  old   world.     He   even   intimated  that   his  own 


*Free  negroes  were  "  permitted  by  the  court  of  any  county  or  corporation  to  remain 
in  this  State  "  (Code  of  Va.,  1849,  460,  Code,  1860,  520) ;  but  the  law  against  emancipated 
negroes  abiding  in  the  State  or  Colony  was  of  very  ancient  standing.  According  to  the 
Act  of  1091,  no  person  could  set  free  a  slave,  without  paying  for  his  transportation  out  of 
the  country  within  six  months  after  setting  him  free.  The  Act.  of  January  '/5,  lSoO,  was 
fundamental  to  all  Virginia  legislation  during  the  present  century  touching  the  condi- 
tion of  freedmen ;  it  was  provided  that  if  any  slave  thereafter  emancipated  should 
remain  within  the  State  more  than  twelve  months  after  his  right  to  freedom  accrued, 
lie  should  forfeit  such  right  and  might  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  of  the  county  or 
corporation.  Cf.  Acts  1815-16,  Code  1819,  Acts  1SJ0-7,  1830-1,  18:j0-7.  By  an  Act  of 
1840-1,  "No  free  negro  shall  migrate  into  this  State."  By  the  Va.  Const  of  18.M,  which 
was  in  force  in  18G0,  "Slaves hereafter  emancipated  shall  forfeit  their  freedom  by  remain- 
ing in  the  commonwealth  more  than  twelve  months  after  they  become  actually  free,  and 
shall  be  reduced  to  slavery  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law/'  The  letter  of  the  law  was 
probably  more  severe  than  the  spirit  of  its  execution.  In  point  of  fact,  both  free  and 
emancipated  negroes  were  always  allowed  in  Virginia  by  permission  of  the  justices  ol 
a  county  court.  In  fact,  the  law  alio  wed  'free  negroes"  to  "  In-  registered  and  num- 
bered" every  live  years  by  the  clerk  of  the  county  court  (Codes  of  1SI9,  lSi!  I).  Kree, 
negroes  were  even  allowed  to  own  slaves  of  a  certain  kind,  for  example,  a  lice  negro 
could  own  his  wife  and  children,  and  their  descent,  also  his  own  parents.  Vnd  con- 
versely, a  free  negro  wife  might  own  her  husband,  children,  and  parents. 

A  student  from  South  Carolina,  Mr.  15.  ,1.  Uamage,  says  it  was  no  uniiMial  thing  before 
the  war  for  free  negroes  to  own  considerable  property,  both  real  estate  ami  -law-,  lie 
calls  attention  to  an  interesting  item  in  the  Baltimore  /'<(//,  September  27,  lss_'     "  Henry 

Todd,  who  lives  in  Darien,  is  tie'  wealthiest  colored  man  i rgia.     Win  n  a  youth,  his 

master  died  ami  left  him  his  freedom.  When  tie- Confederacy  fell,  lie  lost  twenty  sla\>  « 
and  some  Confederate  bonds.  After  the  war,  he  ( inner!  larmiiu;  operation-  and  en- 
gaged in  the  lumber  business,     lie  is   now  li.l  years  old  and   is  worth  >l"". in    : I 

investments."' — It.  1>.  A. 


8  Mr.  Freeman's  Visit  to  Baltimore. 

retired  life  at  his  country-home  in  Somerset  cut  him  off  in  some  degree 
from  the  main  stream  of  contemporary  literature,  to  which  members  of 
the  Jonns  Hopkins  have  constant  access.  This  frank  confession  is  not  at 
all  inconsistent  with  Mr.  Freeman's  well-known  answer  to  the  American 
professor  who  asked  him  where  ho  wrote  his  books :  "  In  my  own  house, 
to  be  sure,  where  else  should  1  ?"  Although  the  historian  of  the  Norman 
Conquest  declares  that  he  has  never  in  his  life  consulted  the  library  of 
the  British  Museum,  yet  he  himself  admits  that,  "  There  are  times  for 
which  the  library  of  the  British  Museum,  or  any  other  public  library 
must  be  invaluable;  but  these  times  are  not  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries,"  The  point  is,  that  for  a  man's  own  special  study,  it  is  possi- 
ble to  have,  in  some  cases,  all  necessary  original  materials  around  him. 
That  point  Mr.  Freeman  saw  illustrated  again  and  again  in  the  special 
department-collections  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Universitas  Studiorum. 
But  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  the  great  and  rushing  stream  of  nine- 
teenth century  literature  did  nc£  impress  the  English  historian  of  politics 
even  more  profoundly  than  it  does  those  who  are  borne  upon  the  current. 
He  feels  keenly  enough  «  the  utter  hopelessness  of  keeping  up  with  the 
ever-growing  mass  of  German  books,  and  yet  more  with  the  vaster  mass 
of  treatises  which  are  hidden  away  in  German  periodicals  and  local 
transactions.  Of  all  of  these  every  German  scholar  expects  us  to  be 
masters,  while  to  most  of  us  they  are  practically  as  inaccessible  as  if  they 
were  shut  up  in  the  archives  of  the  Vatican." 

The  continuity  of  human  history  is  the  life  principle  of  Mr.  Free- 
man's philosophy.  This  principle  he  found  already  transplanted  to 
American  shores.  He  found  it  germinating  in  the  Public  Schools  of 
Baltimore  through  the  influence  of  his  friend  the  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction,  Henry  E.  Shepherd,  formerly  a  student  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  now  President  of  Charleston  College,  South  Carolina. 
He  found  this  principle  bearing  fruit  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 
The  English  historian  became  interested  at  once  in  the  studies  of  His- 
torical and  Political  Science,  which  were  there  in  active  progress.  He 
met  students  in  private  and  in  public.  He  visited  their  special  libraries 
and  work-shops,  where  he  lent  his  master-hand  in  aid  of  apprentice 
tasks.  "With  Bacon's  folio  edition  of  the  Laws  of  Maryland  before  him, 
he  pointed  out  to  Maryland  young  men — graduates  of  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  the  City  College,  and  the  Public  Schools — the  continuity  of 
Old  English  institutions  in  their  native  State.  He  went  with  a  member 
of  the  University  to  the  Library  of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society, 
where  in  the  company  of  Mr.  John  H.  B.  Latrobe,  the  President,  Mr. 
J.  W.  M.  Lee,  the  Librarian,  and  other  members  of  that  institution,  he 
examined  some  of  the  manuscript  records  of  Colonial  Maryland.  And, 
before  leaving  Baltimore,  he  penned  the  following  letter  which  was 
intended  by  him  to  quicken  public  as  well  as  individual  interest  in  the 
collection  and  publication  of  the  Maryland  State  Papers : 


Mr.  Freeman's  Visit  to  Baltimore. 


11  Mount  Vernon  Hotel,  Baltimore,  November  21th    1881. 

"  I  cannot  leave  Baltimore  without  saying  a  word  or  two  about  the  Stale 
records  of  Maryland,  of  which  you  were  good  enough  to  give  me  a 
glimpse  both  in  the  University  Library  and  in  that  of  the  Historical 
Society.  I  did  not  see  much,  but  I  saw  enough  to  get  some  notion  of 
their  great  interest  and  importance.  But  the  few  things  which  I  saw 
either  in  print  or  in  manuscript  must,  I  fancy,  be  mere  fragments  from 
far  greater  stores  at  Annapolis  or  elsewhere  A  systematic  publication 
would  be  a  very  great  gain,  and  the  State  Legislature  would  surely  not 
refuse  its  help,  if  the  matter  were  pressed  upon  it  by  influential  persona 
and  societies  in  the  State.  During  the  short  time  that  I  have  been  in 
America,  I  have  been  more  and  more  impressed  by  the  deep  interest  of 
the  early  history  of  all  these  lands,  first  as  provinces,  then  as  independent 
States.  Each  State  has  in  the  most  marked  way  its  own  character,  and 
gives  some  special  kind  of  instruction  in  comparative  political  history. 
The  local  annals  of  Maryland  or  of  any  other  State  are  something  more 
than  mere  local  history,  something  more  than  part  of  the  history  of  the 
United  States  or  of  the  whole  English-speaking  people.  They  are  really 
contributions  to  the  general  science  of  politics — no  less  than  the  lessons 
which  we  should  have  had  if  Aristotle's  comments  on  the  kindred  com- 
monwealths of  old  Greece  had  been  spared  to  us " 

This  letter,  shown  to  influential  men,  and  read  to  the  Historical  Society 
by  the  Hon.  George  William  Brown,  in  connection  with  a  similar  letter 
written  by  James  Bryce,  M.  P.,  who  was  in  Baltimore  at  the  same  time 
with  Mr.  Freeman,  has  at  last  resulted,  through  the  combined  action  of 
the  Society  and  of  the  State  Legislature,  in  the  transfer  of  the  mass  of 
Colonial  and  Revolutionary  Archives  from  Annapolis  to  Baltimore, 
where,  in  a  well-lighted  but  fire-proof  vault  lately  constructed  by  private 
subscription,  the  manuscript  records  can  be  used  to  the  best  advantage  by 
students  of  Maryland  History.  The  State  has  also  provided  for  the 
gradual  but  systematic  publication  of  these  Archives  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society.  Thus  by  the  institution  of  an 
honorable  Record  Commission,.a  purely  scientific  undertaking  is  removed 
from  all  political  influences.  These  results  are  the  direct  historic  out- 
growth of  Mr.  Freeman's  letter,  supported  by  personal  and  corporate 
power.     The  letter  was  first  published  in  the  New  York  Nation,*  immedi- 


*Note  in  the  Nation,  December  22,  1881,  in  connection  with  a  review  el'  the  "Calendar 
of  Virginia  State  Papers;"  cf.  article  in  the  Baltimore  American,  December  21,  lssi ; 
editorial  in  the  Sun,  December  20,  1SS1 ;  New  York  Times,  December  29,  lssi.  An 
account  of  the  Archives  themselves  and  of  the  provisions  of  the  Bill  which  passed  the 
Maryland  Senate  March  10  and  the  House  of  Delegates.  March  12,  Issj,  may  !»•  found  in 
the  Nation  " Notes,"  March  ISO,  1882;  also,  in  the  same  number,  an  account  of  the  "St,  vens 
Index  of  Maryland  Documents  in  the  State  Taper  Ottice,  London,"  which  Index, 
containing  descriptions  and  abstracts  of  l,72!i  Maryland  documents   now   preserved   in 

2 


10  Mr.  Freeman' 8  Visit  to  Baltimore. 

ately  afterwards  in  Baltimore  newspapers,  and  a  copy  of  it  was  sent  to 
every  member  of  the  Maryland  Legislature.  The  letter  is  reproduced 
above  in  a  more  complete  form  than  heretofore,  for  the  sake  of  its  per- 
manent preservation  as  a  contribution  to  the  Science  of  Maryland 
History. 

Mr.  Freeman's  visit  to  Baltimore  has  a  certain  historical  value,  which 
will  become  more  and  more  apparent  when  the  influence  which  he 
exerted  here  upon  the  Historical  Society  and  upon  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University  goes  forth  into  the  State  of  Maryland  and  into  the  country  at 
large.  The  English  lecturer  made  an  impression  wherever  he  went  in 
this  country,  in  Boston,  Ithaca,  New  Haven,  Providence,  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  and  other  places;  but  it  is  the  writer's  belief, 
based  upon  careful  inquiry,  that  the  impression  produced  upon  the  stu- 
dents of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  the  young  life  of  Baltimore, 
was  the  best,  the  strongest,  and  the  most  abiding  of  all.  While  his 
public  lectures  at  the  Peabody  Institute  and  elsewhere  excited  much 
attention  and  remark  at  the  time  they  were  given,  yet  these  popular 
addresses,  tested  by  the  comparative  method,  were  everywhere  less  quick- 
ening and  less  permanent  in  their  historic  influence  than  the  half  dozen 
informal  "talks  "  given  to  a  company  of  advanced  students,  meeting  in 
Hopkins  Hall  upon  the  afternoons  of  days  alternating  with  Mr.  Free- 
man's public  lectures  at  the  Peabody  Institute.  In  a  room  of  small  size, 
before  a  strictly  University  audience,  without  a  sheet  of  paper  between 
him  and  his  hearers,  with  no  lyceum-apparatus  save  a  pointer  and  one  or 
two  outline-maps  prepared  for  the  illustration  of  special  matters,  Mr. 
Freeman  in  plain  English, — vigorous,  and  eloquent — set  forth  "  the 
Eternal  Eastern  Question  "  in  the  light  of  past  Politics  and  present  His- 
tory. He  spoke  of  the  Roman  Power  in  the  East:  the  Saracens  and  the 
Slavs;  the  final  Division  of  the  East  and  the  West;  the  Turks,  Franks, 
and  Venetians;  the  Ottomans  and  the  Beginnings  of  Deliverance. 
Probably  no  such  telling,  inspiring  course  was  anywhere  given  by  the 
English  historian  in  his  American  tour. 

Circumstances  contributed  to  make  Mr.  Freeman's  lectures  at  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University  a  peculiar  and  remarkable  success.  In  the  first 
place,  the  President  of  the  University  had  insisted  upon  it  that  Mr. 
Freeman  should  talk  to  the  students  upon  some  special  theme  instead 
of  reading  one  of  his  two  general  ^courses  of  written  lectures.  The 
informality  of  these  "  talks  "  which  Mr.  Freeman  was  at  first  very  reluc- 
tant to  give,  was  made  doubly  pleasing  by  the  fact  that  the  historian 
proved  a  good  extempore  speaker.  The  author  of  the  Norman  Conquest 
has  "  stumped  "  the  County  of  Somersetand  knows  how  to  make  a  good 


England,  was  presented  to  the  Maryland  Historical  Society  by  George  Peabody,  and  thus 
supplements  the  Annapolis  collection.  These  Nation  "Notes"  of  March  30, 1882,  were 
reprinted  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  Circular,  May,  1882. 


Mr.  Freeman's  Visit  to  Baltimore.  1 1 

off-hand  speech.  .In  the  second  place,  the  natural  orator  was  doubtless 
tired  by  the  enthusiasm  of  his  student-hearers  and  bv  the  presence  and 
applause  of  another  historian  and  politician,  his  friend  James  Brvee 
M.  P.,  whos.e  remarkable  lectures  upon  English  Polities  followed  close 
upon  Mr.  Freeman,  upon  the  same  platform,  and  upon  the  same  days. 
.  But  what  most  of  all  contributed  to  Mr.  Freeman's  success  at  the  Uni- 
versity was  the  unimpeded  rush  of  his  own  thought  and  feeling  into  the 
historic  fields  of  South-Eastern  Europe,  on  which  political  interest  was 
then  centering  anew. 

Mr.  Freeman  had  come  to  America  directly  from  Dalmatia  without 
tarrying  in  England.  He  had  come  from  the  historic  border-ground 
between  the  Aryan  and  the  Turk,  between  Venice  and  the  Ottoman 
Power,  between  Old  and  New  Rome.  He  had  come  to  the  Western 
Empire  of  the  English  People,  which,  expanding  with  the  great  Teutonic 
race  from  local  centres,  is  repeating  in  the  continental  island  of  Atlantis 
and  in  the  continent  of  Asia,  with  Egypt  and  Ocean  between,  the  experi- 
ment of  the  Roman  People  upon  a  grander  and  nobler  scale.  He  came 
from  ancient  municipal  centres  of  Grecian  culture  and  Roman  do- 
minion,— from  Ragusa,  upon  the  rocks  of  the  Dalmatian  coast,  a  city 
of  refuge  for  the  Grecian  colony  of  Epidauros,  *  as  Home  was  a  city  of 
refuge  for  the  village  communities  of  Italy, — from  Spalato  in  Dalmatia, 
once  a  city  of  refuge  for  a  Roman  Emperor,  Diocletian,  who.  born  in  this 
lllyrian  border-land,  was  the  first  to  propose  the  institution  of  two 
Caesars  and  of  Roman  capitals  wherever  Emperors  took  up  their  abode, 
whether  at  Spalato,  Nikomedeia,  Milan,  Trier,  or  York. 

The  English  historian  of  "  The  lllyrian  Emperors  and  their  Land" 
came  to  a  new  York  and  to  other  capitals  of  a  westward-moving  English 
Empire.  Like  an  historical  ambassador  from  the  East,  such  as  Emanuel 
Chrysoloras,  who  came  from  Constantinople  to  Rome  in  1300  in  the 
interest  of  the  Eastern  Empire  and  tarried  in  Italy  three  years  to  teach 
Greek;  or  as  Georgius  Gemistus  (Pletho)  who  came  in  the  interest  of  the 
Greek  Church  to  attend  the  Council  of  Florence  in  143!)  and  remained 
in  that  city  for  many  years  to  lecture  upon  Platonic  Philosophy,  even  so 
the  historian  of  "  The  English  People  in  their  Three  Homes,"  coming  to 
Boston  and  Baltimore  with  a  message  upon  his  lips  that  invited  national 
belief  in  the  civic  kinship  and  religious  unity  of  England  and  America, 
came  also  with  another  message  from  the  East.  He  came  representing  the 
history  of  an  older  Eastern  Empire  than  that  of  England  in  Egypt 
and  India.  He  came  with  a  book  in  pros  upon  "The  Subject  and 
Neighbor    Lands  of  Venice  "f   (Spalato,   Ragusa,  and  other  Dalmatian 


*Kpidauros  in  Dalmatia  is  now  known  as  Kaj;usa  Verchia.  <'un<>ii*l>  en 
mother-town  ha*  taken  its  daughter's  name.  It  is  as  tlemgli  Knglaiui  tdmuld  .1 
name,  Old  America. 

f  Reviewed  in  the  Nation,  February  '■',  lsv-'. 


1 2  Mr.  Freeman's  Vhit  to  Baltimore. 

cities)  and  before  that  book  was  published  in  America,  Mr.  Freeman  bad 
told  students  in  Baltimore  the  story  of  the  Republic  of  Ragusa,  "  the  one 
spot  along  that  whole  coast  from  the  Croatian  border  to  Cape  Tainarcs 
itself,  which  never  came  under  the  dominion  either  of  the  Venetian  or  of 
the  Turk," — that  city  upon  the  rocks  which  •'  has  always  sat  on  a  little  ledge 
of  civilization  ....  with  a  measureless  background  of  barbarism  behind 
her."  Before  Mr.  Freeman's  article  on  "The  Revolt  in  Dalmatia"  was 
published  in  the  Nation  (February  16,  1882),  the  latest  dispatches  upon 
which  that  article  was  based,  had  been  made  known  in  Baltimore.  The 
letters  and  telegrams  from  Ragusa  to  the  Manchester  Ouardianby  Arthur 
Evans,*  Mr.  Freeman's  son-in-law,  "were  almost  the  only  trustworthy 
sources  of  information  in  England  regarding  affairs  in  Dalmatia.  Mr. 
Freeman  left  Ragusa  in  June,  1881,  when,  as  he  says  in  the  Nation,  "the 
storm  was  beginning."  From  that  time  on,  Mr.  Evans  kept  him 
informed  as  to  the  progress  of  the  Revolution,  and  those  manuscript 
letters  from  Ragusa  were  shown  to  students  in  Baltimore. 

In  such  ways,  through  living,  winged  words,  eirea  nrepdevra,  young 
men  in  America  were  made  to  realize  that  contemporary  Politics  is 
only  History  in  the  making.  And  they  will  use  a  motto  from  Mr.  Free- 
man—  History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History  f  —  not 
only  upon  the  wall  of  their  class-room,  but  upon  their  published 
"Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Science,"  to  which  the  Historian  of 
Politics  kindly  offers  an  Introduction,  which  he  wrote  after  his  return  to 
England,  to  his  own  Home  at  "Somerleaze."  There  in  the  South-West 
of  England,  in  his  own  library,  looking  out  upon  his  own  land  and  trees, 
with  his  face  toward  the  low-lying  hills  of  Mendip,  the  historian  of 
the  Norman  Conquest  meditates  upon  the  relation  of  Past  and  Present. 
That  his  thoughts  occasionally  go  out  from  the  old  country  to  the  new, 
is  evident  not  only  from  his  voluntary  contribution  to  American  past 
Politics,  but  from  his  sending  to  Baltimore,  to  the  Seminary  of  Historical 
and  Political  Science,  his  most  recent  contributions  to  English  magazines 
and  newspapers,  sources  of  present  History. 


•Mr.  Evans  has  been  for  some  years  an  authority  upon  affairs  in  South-Eastern  Europe. 
His  letters  to  the  Manchester  Guardian  during  the  year  1877  have  been  published  in  book- 
form  under  the  title  of  "Ulyrian  Letters  — A  revised  selection  of  correspondence  from 
the  Ulyrian  provinces  of  Bosnia,  Herzegovina,  etc."  (London,  1878.)  An  earlier  work 
by,  Mr.  Evans  is  entitled  "  Through  Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina  on  foot  during  the 
insurrection,  August  and  September,  1875"  (Second  edition,  London,  1877;. 

fThis  motto  is  the  pith  of  a  sentence  in  Mr.  Freeman's  address  in  Birmingham,  Nov- 
ember 18, 1880,  "On  the  Study  of  History,"  printed  in  the  Fortnightly  Jleview,  March,  1881, 
p.  320,  where  he  says  it  is  "a  highly  practical  truth  that  history  is  simply  past  politics 
and  that  politics  are  simply  present  history;"  cf.  p.  329.  Another  origina'l  form  of  the 
aphorism  is:  "  History  is  the  politics  of  the  past,  politics  are  the  history  of  the  present." 
Note  also  the  same  idea  in  Mr.  Freeman'*  Lectures  to  American  Audiences,  p.  »>7: 
"Now  the  position  for  which  I  have  always  striven  is  this,  that  history  is  past 'politics! 
that  ]K)litics  are  present  history." 


INTRODUCTION 


AMERICAN  INSTITUTIONAL  HISTORY. 


The  study  of  the  local  institutions  of  the  states,  counties, 
towns,  and  the  like,  through  the  United  States,  and  indeed 
through  America  generally,  is,  to  my  mind,  a  matter  of  a  good 
deal  more  than  local  interest.  Its  immediate  attraction  of  course 
is  strongest  for  those  to  whom  it  is  a  matter  of  local  interest  ; 
but  its  importance  goes  a  great  deal  further.  Whenever  institu- 
tions have  grown  up  of  themselves,  as  they  largely  have  done  in 
at  least  the  Eastern  States  of  the  Union,  they  become  a  matter 
of  scientific  study.  The  institutions  of  Massachusetts  or  Mary- 
land, such  at  least  among  them  as  have  been  handed  down  from 
the  foundation  of  those  colonies,  are  not  simply  the  institutions 
of  Massachusetts  and  Maryland.  They  are  part  of  the  general 
institutions  of  the  English  people,  as  those  are  again  part  of  the 
general  institutions  of  the  Teutonic  race,  and  those  are  again 
part  of  the  general  institutions  of  the  whole  Aryan  family. 
There  I  must  stop;  some  of  my  friends  are  able  to  go  further; 
and,  if  they  can  prove  that  something  which  I  am  satisfied  with 
showing  to  be  English,  Teutonic,  Aryan,  is  really  common  to  all 
mankind,  they  do  me  no  wrong.  The  history,  in  short,  of  a 
Massachusetts  township  or  a  Maryland  manor  *  becomes,  if  looked 
at  in  a  scientific  spirit,  part  of  the  general  history  of  the  world. 
Of  course   I  assume  that  they  are  studied  in   a  scientific  spirit. 


*  The  subject  of  Old  Maryland  Manors  has  been  investigated  by  John 
Johnson,  a  graduate  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University.  Interest  in  this 
research  was  heightened  by  the  examination,  in  the  Library  of  the  Mary- 
land Historical  Society,  of  the  records  of  an  actual  Court  Leet,  held 
upon  St.  Clement's  Manor,  in  St.  Mary's  County.  Tin'  Court  Leet,  the 
existence  of  which  in  Maryland  has  long  been  denied,  was  a  popular 
institution,  a  kind  of  Town  Meeting  on  the  Lord's  Manor.  Such  a  man- 
orial survival  is,  like  the  old  Town  Pasture  at  Annapolis,  a  connecting 
link  between  Province  Marvland  and  Early  England.—  11.  it.  a. 


14  An  Introduction  to 

Even  the  researches  of  the  dullest  local  antiquary  have  their  use; 
that  is,  they  may  be  turned  to  some  use  by  a  more  intelligent 
inquirer,  by  one  who  sees  in  them  a  value  which  the  original  col- 
lector fails  to  see.  The  scientific  view  of  such  matters  consists 
mainly  in  dealing  with  them  by  the  comparative  method.  To  say 
that  a  certain  custom  exists  in  Massachusetts  now  and  to  say  that 
a  certain  custom  existed  at  Athens  ages  ago  are  both  of  them 
pieces  of  knowledge  which,  if  they  go  no  further,  are  of  no  great 
value  or  interest.  But,  if  you  can  bring  the  Massachusetts  cus- 
tom and  the  Athenian  custom  into  some  kind  of  relation  towards 
one  another  —  if  you  can  show  that,  among  much  of  unlikeness  in 
detail,  the  likeness  of  a  general  leading  idea  runs  through  both  — 
if  you  can  show  that  the  likeness  is  not  the  work  of  mere  chance 
but  that  it  can  be  explained  by  common  derivation  from  a  com- 
mon source  —  if  again  you  can  show  that  the  points  of  unlikeness 
are  not  mere  chance  either,  but  that  they  can  be  explained  by 
differences  in  time,  place,  and  circumstance  —  if  you  can  do  all 
this,  you  have  indeed  done  something  for  the  scientific  study  of 
Comparative  Politics.* 


*  Three  or  four  years  ago,  at  a  suggestion  from  Professor  B.  L.  Gilder- 
sleeve,  the  editor  of  this  series  began  to  collect  materials  illustrating 
the  local  institutions  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  with  the  view  of  ultimately 
drawing  certain  historical  parallels  between  their  Village  Community 
system  and  that  of  the  Teutonic  race,  especially  of  its  New  England 
branch.  The  agrarian  customs,  the  local  assemblies,  market  places, 
village  elders,  the  predominance  of  kinship  in  the  village  constitution, 
the  sanctity  of  house  and  home,  the  reverence  for  ancient  landmarks  and 
the  bounds  of  the  village,  the  branching  out  of  hew  communities  from 
the  parent  stock,  and  the  association  of  kindred  villages  in  a  larger 
municipal  commonwealth, —  these  and  other  features  of  Greek  and  Teu- 
tonic local  life  are  strikingly  similar  and  illustrate  the  fact  that  the  old 
Aryan  tree  has  been  budding  and  blossoming  in  much  the  same  w»y  for 
three  or  more  thousand  years.  The  Grecian  branch  of  institutional 
genealogy  is  assuming  fresh  interest  from  year  to  year  in  the  light  of 
German  monographs  and  revisions  of  earlier  standard  works.  In  view 
of  this  fact  and  of  the  increasing  importance  of, Grecian  Village  Com- 
munities in  the  comparative  study  of  local  institutions,  it  has  been 
thought  best  to  intrust  the  Grecian  topic  to  Dr.  John  Franklin  Jameson, 
instructor  in  classic  history  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  who  from 
the  nature  of  his  present  pursuits,  will  have  special  opportunities  for 
investigating  the  above  subject. —  H.  B.  A. 


American  Institutional  History.  1 5 

But,  coming  nearer  our  own  concerns,  the  institutions  of  the 
American  States  form  a  natural  and  important  part  of  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  Teutonic  race,  and  specially  of  the  English  branch 
of  it.  The  institutions  of  England  are  the  general  institutions 
of  the  Teutonic  race,  modified  as  they  could  not  fail  to  be,  by 
settlement  in  a  great  European  island,  and  by  the  events  which 
have  taken  place  since  that  settlement.  The  institutions  of  the 
American  States  are  the  institutions  of  England,  modified,  as 
they  could  not  fail  to  be,  by  settlement  in  a  greater  American 
continent,  and  by  the  events  which  have  taken  place  since  that 
settlement.  We  do  not  rightly  understand  the  history  of  our 
people  on  either  side  of  Ocean,  unless  we  take  in  the  close 
analogy  —  notwithstanding  many  points  of  unlikeness  —  between 
the  English  settlements  in  Britain  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries, 
and  the  English  settlements  in  America  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. The  likeness  comes  out  most  strongly  if  we  contrast  either 
with  the  Norman  Conquest  in  England  or  with  the  Spanish  con- 
quests in  America.  These  again  differ  greatly  from  one  another; 
but  they  agree  in  the  comparatively  short  time  in  which  the  work 
was  done.  In  both  of  them  settlement  took  the  form  of  conquest, 
and  of  conquest  on  a  great  scale.  But  those  who  came  in  the  three 
keels  of  Hengest  and  those  who  came  in  the  Mayflower  were 
both  of  them  in  a  different  position.  They  settled  in  small  com- 
panies and  won  the  land  bit  by  bit.  They  brought  with  them  the 
institutions  of  their  elder  country,  such  of  them  at  least  as  suited 
the  condition  of  their  new  country  ;  they  planted  them  afresh, 
and  what  they  planted  grew  up  with  such  changes  as  were 
wrought  by  the  nature  of  the  new  soil  in  which  it  was  planted. 
The  most  notable  thing  of  all,  yet  surely  the  most  natural  thing 
of  all,  is  that  the  New  England  settlers  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury largely  reproduced  English  institutions  in  an  older  shape 
than  they  bore  in  the  England  of  the  seventeenth  century.  They 
gave  a  new  life  to  many  things  which  in  their  older  home  had  well 
nigh  died  out.  The  necessary  smallness  of  scale  in  the  original 
settlements  was  the  root  of  the  whole  matter.  It,  so  to  speak, 
drove  them  back  for  several  centuries:  it  caused  them  to  repro- 
duce, in  not  a  few  points,  not  the  England  of  their  own  day,  but 
the  England  of  a  far  earlier  time.  It  led  them  to  reproduce  in 
many  points  the  state  of  things  in  old   Greece  and  in  mediaeval 


1 G  An  Introduction  to 

Switzerland.  Such  a  state  as  Rhode  Island  is  as  essentially 
ancient  as  Uri  itself;  that  is,  a  new  Rhode  Island  could  no  more 
come  into  being  now  than  a  new  Uri.  A  New  England  town- 
meeting  is  essentially  the  same  thing  as  the  Homerica  dyo<r/n  the 
Athenian  ixxfyfria,  the  Roman  comitia,  the  Swiss  Landesge- 
meinde,  the  English  folk-moot.  The  circumstances  of  New 
England  called  the  primitive  assembly  again  into  being  when  in 
the  older  Englaand  it  was  well  nigh  forgotten.  What  in  Switzer- 
land is  a  survival  was  in  New  England  rather  a  revival.  But 
the  causes  alike  of  the  survival  and  of  the  revival  are  part  of  the 
general  history  of  the  institutions  of  the  Teutonic  race. 

But  New  England  does  not  make  up  the  whole  of  the  English 
settlements  in  America.  We  have  further  to  compare  the  points 
of  likeness  and  unlikeness,  and  the  causes  of  the  likeness  and 
unlikeness,  between  the  New  England  states,  which  so  largely 
came  of  themselves  and  other  states  which  arose  under  other 
influences.  We  mark  a  difference  between  the  proprietary  colo- 
nies, and  those  which  were  practically  independent  common- 
wealths from  the  beginning.  Maryland  reproduced  English 
institutions  no  less  than  Massachusetts;  but  Massachusetts  and 
Maryland  did  not  reproduce  exactly  the  same  English  institu- 
tions. But  it  is  plain  that  the  more  popular  institutions  were 
more  at  home  on  the  soil  of  the  New  World.  A  lord  pro- 
prietor whose  rights  were  measured  by  these  of  the  Bishop  of 
Durham  was  an  anomaly  in  a  newly  settled  land.  Greater  local 
independence,  closer  connexion  with  the  Government  of  the 
mother  country,  were  either  of  them  more  natural  states.  Mary- 
land, therefore,  advanced  in  the  direction  of  Massachusetts; 
Massachusetts  did  not  advance  in  the  direction  of  Maryland.* 

I  noticed  in  Virginia,  the  only  one  of  the  Southern  States  of 
which  I  have  seen  anything,  that  I  heard  the  word  county  at  least  a 


*The  Palatinate  of  Durham,  after  which  the  proprietary  powers  of 
Lord  Baltimore  were  modelled  in  the  charter  of  Terra  Mariae,  has  been 
made  the  subject  of  careful  investigation  by  Mr.  Basil  Sollers,  a  graduate 
of  the  City  College,  Baltimore,  and  a  member  of  the  University- 
Seminary  of  Historical  and  Political  Science.  Although  Palatine  rights 
were  granted  to  the  Lord  Proprietor,  yet  practically,  from  the  very  out- 
set, the  government  of  Maryland  was  a  government  by  the  people. 

—  H.   B.  A. 


American  Institutional  History.  17 

hundred  times  for  once  that  I  heard  it  in  New  England.  The 
merest  glance  at  the  two  countries  shows  that,  setting  aside  the 
results  of  late  events,  the  whole  political  organization  of  the  two 
countries  is  different.  Both  have  reproduced  English  institutions  ; 
but  they  have  not  reproduced  the  same  English  institutions.  I 
suppose  that  Virginia  and  New  England  must  be  the  most 
strictly  English  parts  of  the  United  States  ;  the  mixture  of  any 
foreign  element  in  the  original  settlement  must  have  Been  very 
small  in  either.  But  the  two  lands  represent  two  different  sides 
of  England.  Virginia  more  nearly  reproduced  the  England  of 
the  time  of  the  settlement.  New  England  more  nearly  repro- 
duced the  England  of  an  earlier  time.  The  causes  of  this  differ- 
ence, causes  inherent  in  the  different  circumstances  of  the  two 
settlements,  again  take  their  place  in  the  general  course  of 
English  and  of  Teutonic  history. 

Thus  far  one  has  had  to  speak  wholly  of  reproductions  of 
strictly  English  institutions.  In  some  of  the  other  States  we  find 
materials  for  study  of  another  kind.  The  State  of  New  York, 
once  New  Netherlands,  affords  us  the  remarkable  phenomenon  of 
a  land  settled  by  one  body  of  Teutonic  settlers  and  afterwards  by 
the  accidents  of  warfare  transferred  to  another.  The  two  sets  of 
colonists  were  both  of  the  same  original  stock  and  the  same  origi- 
nal speech  ;  but  the  circumstances  of  their  several  histories  had 
made  them  practically  strangers  to  each  other.  On  the  Nether- 
Dutch  of  Holland  and  Zealand  transplanted  to  the  new  world 
came  in  the  Nether-Dutch  of  England.  The  two  elements  have 
been  fused  together  into  one  whole,  but  not  without  leaving 
memories  and  signs  of  the  old  distinction.  Here  is  a  held  of 
special  interest.  We  have  not  only,  as  in  New  England,  to  com- 
pare a  newer  England  with  an  older  ;  we  have  also  to  compare 
an  older  and  a  newer  Holland  ;  and  to  study  the  changes  wrought 
in  it  by  the  infusion  of  an  element  really  kindred  though  out- 
wardly foreign.  And  again  another  question  is  raised.  The 
same  elements  which  were  brought  together  in  the  State  of  New 
York  have  been  more  lately  brought  together  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  But  the  results  have  been  widely  different  in  the 
two  cases.  I  do  not  profess  to  have  worked  out  the  causes  of 
the  difference;  but  the  question  is  one  which  is  well  worth 
searching  into. 
3 


18  An  Introduction  to 

In  other  parts  of  the  Union  my  favourite  talk  about  Old, 
Middle,  and  New  England  ceases  locally  to  apply.  I  see  with 
pleasure  that  one  of  the  subjects  set  down  for  research  is  French 
Towns  in  Wisconsin.  I  have  not  myself  seen  anything  of  the 
State  of  Wisconsin.  But  at  St.  Louis  I  was  strongly  impressed 
With  a  line  of  thought  which  comes  out  much  more  forcibly  in 
Missouri  than  it  can  come  out  in  Wisconsin.  We  cannot  call 
Wisconsin  a  colony  of  the  English  people  in  the  same  sense  as 
Massachusetts  and  Virginia,  though  both  Wisconsin  and  Missouri 
may  be  called  colonies  of  the  English  people  in  a  wider  sense. 
Wisconsin  was  for  a  while  a  possession  of  the  British  crown,  and 
changed  its  allegiance  as  a  result  of  the  War  of  Independence. 
But  when  I  crossed  the  Father  of  Waters,  and  found  myself  at 
St.  Louis,  my  first  feeling  was  that  I  had  got  altogether  out  of  the 
historic  range  of  which  Massachusetts  and  Virginia  form  parts. 
Here  was  a  land  which  was  no  colony  of  the  English  people,  no 
possession  of  the  British  crown,  which  the  War  of  Independence 
in  no  way  touched,  which  had  no  part  or  lot  in  Washington  or 
his  fellows,  but  which  was  bought  for  money  by  the  United  States, 
after  they  had  become  the  United  States,  and  after  Washington 
was  no  more.  Yet  I  found  myself  in  an  English-speaking  land, 
a  land  in  which  traditions  and  memories  common  to  the  whole 
Union  were  as  strong  as  anywhei'e  else.  I  know  that  traces  of 
the  elder  state  of  things  have  by  no  means  wholly  vanished  ;  but 
they  do  not  strike  the  visitor  on  the  surface.  I  was  at  once 
struck  with  the  outward  analogy  between  those  parts  of  the 
American  Union  which  formed  part  of  the  old  Louisiana  and 
those  parts  of  the  Swiss  Union  which  formed  no  part  of  the  old 
German  League.  The  Romance  Cantons  of  Switzerland  have 
absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  the  history,  rich  and  legendary,  of 
the  original  Three  Lands.  Yet  the  history  of  the  Three  Lands, 
real  and  legendary,  has  been  thoroughly  adopted  by  the  Romance 
Cantons ;  Tell  and  the  Three  Men  of  Griitli  may  be  seen  at 
Geneva  and  at  Lugano  no  less  than  at  Altdorf  itself.  Here  a 
wholly  distinct  people  has  adopted  the  history  and  legend  of  the 
body  into  which  it  has  been  itself  adopted.  In  the  American 
case,  though  the  land  of  the  old  Louisiana  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  War  of  Independence  and  its  worthies,  yet  the  mass  of  its 
inhabitants  have  the  same  right  in  them   as  the  inhabitants  of 


American  Institutional  History.  19 

other  parts  of  the  Union.  That  is  to  say,  the  Romance  lands  of 
Switzerland  have  adopted  the  traditions  of  their  Teutonic  neigh- 
boars  while  still  retaining  Romance;  the  Romance  lands  of 
America  have  adopted  the  traditions  of  their  Teutonic  neigh- 
bours by  the  more  eifectual  process  of  receiving  their  Teutonic 
neighbours  within  their  borders. 

I  have  gone  off  a  good  way  from  the  subject  on  which  I  origi- 
nally meant  to  say  a  few  words.  But  my  very  wanderings  may 
help  to  show  how  easily  the  study  of  the  local  institutions  of  the 
American  States  connects  itself  with  the  general  study  of  Euro- 
pean history,  and  with  the  study  of  the  general  history  of  insti- 
tutions, above  all  with  the  institutions  of  the  Teutonic  race  and 
specially  of  its  English  branch. 


*  Doubtless  I  visited  America  under  circumstances  which  were 
likely  to  make  me  dwell  on  likenesses  rather  than  on  unlikenesses. 
It  might  haply  have  been  otherwise  if  I  had  known  nothing 
of  the  continent  of  Europe,  or  if  I  had  entered  America,  as  some 
have  done,  on  its  western  side.  But  I  came  to  America  from 
the  east,  and  that  as  a  somewhat  old  stager  in  continental 
Europe.  I  came  as  one  fresh  from  Italy,  Greece,  and  Dalraatia, 
as  one  who  had  used  his  own  house  in  England  as  an  inn  on  the 
road  between  Ragusa  and  Boston.  Among  a  people  of  the  same 
tongue,  of  essentially  the  same  laws  and  manners,  I  naturally 
found  myself  at  home,  after  tarrying  in  lands  which  were  altogether 
foreign.  But  I  have  no  doubt  that  deeper  causes  than  this  would 
naturally  lead  me  to  seize  on  the  most  English  side  of  everything 
American.     To  me  the  English-speaking  commonwealth  on  the 


*  It  has  been  thought  not  inappropriate  to  reprint  in  connection  with 
this  Introduction,  which  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Freeman  expressly  for  this 
University  Series,  the  following  extracts  from  his  "  Impressions  of  Amer- 
ica," recently  published  in  the  Fortnight!)/  Review  (August  and  September, 
1882),  articles  touching  American  Institutions  and  dwelling  upon  the 
importance  of  studying  them  in  the  ligbt  of  Kurope.m  hi-!'  r;.  oid  of 
the  comparative  method. — u.  is.  a. 


20  An  Introduction  to 

American  mainland  is  simply  one  part  of  the  great  English  folk, 
as  the  English-speaking  kingdom  in  the  p]uropean  island  is  another 
part.  My  whole  line  of  thought  and  study  leads  me  to  think, 
more  perhaps  than  most  men,  of  the  everlasting  ties  of  blood  and 
speech,  and  less  of  the  accidental  separation  wrought  by  political 
and  geographical  causes.  To  me  the  English  folk,  wherever  they 
may  dwell,  whatever  may  be  their  form  of  government,  are  still 
one  people.  It  may  be  that  the  habit  of  constantly  studying  and 
comparing  the  history  of  England  with  the  History  of  old  Greece, 
makes  it  easier  for  me  to  grasp  the  idea  of  a  people,  divided 
politically  and  geographically,  but  still  forming  in  the  higher 
sense  one  people.  The  tie  that  bound  Greek  to  Greek  was  dearer 
to  Kallikratidas  than  the  advancement  of  Spartan  interests  by 
barbarian  help.  And  so,  to  my  mind  at  least,  the  thought  of 
the  true  unity  of  the  scattered  English  folk  is  a  thought  higher 
and  dearer  than  any  thought  of  a  British  Empire  to  the  vast 
majority  of  whose  subjects  the  common  speech  of  Chatham  and 
Washington,  of  Gladstone  and  GarGeld,  is  an  unknown  tongue. 
It  may  be  more  important  to  ask  how  far  the  doctrine  of  the 
essential  unity  of  the  divided  branches  of  the  English  people  is  re- 
ceived by  those  whom  it  concerns  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ocean. 
This  is  a  subject  on  which  I  rather  distrust  my  own  judgment.  I  feel 
that  it  is  a  subject  on  which  I  am  an  enthusiast,  and  that  my  enthusi- 
asm may  possibly  bias  and  color  any  report  that  I  may  try  to  make. 
And,  of  course,  I  can  give  only  the  impressions  which  I  have  drawn 
from  certain  classes  of  people,  impressions  which  may  be  widely 
different  from  those  which  another  man  may  have  drawn  from 
other  classes  of  people.  As  far  as  I  can  speak  of  my  American 
acquaintances,  I  should  say  that  with  most  of  them  the  essential 
unity  of  the  English  folk  is  one  of  those  facts  which  everybody  in 
a  sense  knows,  but  of  which  few  people  really  carry  their  knowledge 
about  with  them.  The  main  facts  of  the  case  are  so  plain  that 
they  cannot  fail  to  be  known  to  every  man  among  a  people 
who  know  their  own  immediate  and  recent  history  so  well  as  the 
Americans  do.  That  the  older  American  states  were  in  the 
beginning  English  colonies,  that  the  great  mass  of  their  inhabitants 
are  still  of  English  descent,  that,  though  the  infusion  of  foreign 
elements  has  been  large,  yet  it  is  the  English  kernel  which  has 
assimilated  these  foreigu  elements — that  the  German  in  America, 


American  Institutional  History.  21 

for  instance,  learns  to  speak  English,  while  the  American  of 
English  descent  does  not  learn  to  speak  German — ail  these  are 
plain  facts  which  every  decently  taught  man  in  the  United  States 
cannot  fail  in  a  certain  sense  to  know.  That  is,  if  he  were  exam- 
ined on  the  subject,  he  could  not  fail  to  give  the  right  answers. 
But  the  facts  do  not  seem  to  be  to  him  living  things,  constantly 
in  his  mind.  Those  Americans  with  whom  I  have  spoken,  all  of 
them  without  a  single  exception,  readily  and  gladly  accepted  the 
statement  of  what  I  may  call  their  EnglUhry.  when  it  was  set 
before  them.  Once  or  twice  indeed  I  have  known  the  statement 
come  from  the  American  side.  But,  though  the  acceptance  of 
the  doctrine  was  ready  and  glad,  it  seemed  to  be  the  acceptance 
of  a  doctrine  which  could  not  be  denied  when  it  was  stated,  but 
which  he  who  accepted  it  had  not  habitually  carried  about  in  his 
daily  thoughts.  And  when  the  statement  came  from  the  Ameri- 
can side,  it  came,  not  as  an  obvious  truth,  but  rather  as  the  result 
of  the  speaker's  own  observation,  as  a  fact  which  he  had  noticed, 
but  which  might  have  escaped  the  notice  of  others.  I  will  illus- 
trate my  meaning  by  an  incident  which  happened  to  myself.  At 
a  college  dinner  to  which  I  was  asked,  one  gentleman  proposed 
my  health  in  words  which  in  everything  else  were  most  kind  and 
flattering,  but  in  which  I  was  spoken  of  as  a  man  of  "  a  foreign 
nationality."  In  my  answer  I  thanked  the  proposer  of  the  toast 
for  everything  else  that  he  had  said,  but  begged  him  to  withdraw 
one  word  :  I  was  not  of  a  foreign  nationality,  but  of  the  same 
nationality  as  himself.  My  answer  was  warmly  cheered,  and 
several  other  speakers  took  up  the  same  line.  The  unity  of  Old 
and  New  England  was  in  every  mouth  ;  one  gentleman  who  had 
been  American  Minister  in  England  told  how  exactly  the  same 
thing  had  happened  to  him  at  a  Lord  Mayor's  dinner  in  London, 
how  he  had   been  spoken   of  as  a  foreigner,  and   how   he   had 

refused  the  name,  just  as  I  had  done 

In  the  broad  fact  of  the  War  of  Independence  there  is  really 
nothing  of  which  either  side  need  be  ashamed.  Each  side  acted 
as  it  was  natural  for  each  side  to  act.  We  can  now  see  that 
both  King  George  and  the  British  nation  were  quite  wrong  ;  hut 
for  them  to  have  acted  otherwise  than  they  did  would  have  needed 
a  superhuman  measure  of  wisdom,  which  few  kings  and  few 
nations  ever  had.     The   later  American  war  within   the    present 


22  An  Introduction  to 

century,  a  war  which,  one  would  think,  could  have  been  so  easily 
avoided  on  either  side,  is  a  far  uglier  memory  than  the  War  of 
Independence.  Still  the  War  of  Independence  must  be,  on  the 
American  side,  a  formidable  historic  barrier  in  the  way  of  perfect 
brotherhood.  A  war  of  that  kind  is  something  quite  unlike  an 
ordinary  war  between  two  nations  which  are  already  thoroughly 
formed.  Two  nations  in  that  case  can  soon  afford  to  forget,  they 
can  almost  afford  to  smile  over,  their  past  differences.  It  is  other- 
wise when  one  nation  dates  its  national  being — in  the  political 
sense  of  the  word  "  nation  " — from  the  defeat  and  humiliation  of 
the  other.  If  the  American  nation  had  parted  off  peacefully 
from  the  British  nation,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  on  either  side 
in  looking  on  the  two  English-speaking  nations  as  simply  severed 
branches  of  the  same  stock.  The  independent  colony  would,  in 
such  a  case,  have  far  less  difficulty  in  feeling  itself  to  be,  though 
independent,  still  a  colony,  far  less  difficulty  in  feeling  that  all  the 
common  memories  and  associations  of  the  common  stock  belong 
to  the  colony  no  less  than  to  the  mother-country.  In  such  a  case 
the  new  England  might  have  been  to  the  old  what  Syracuse,  not 
what  Korkyra,  was  to  their  common  mother  Corinth.  But  when 
independence  was  won  in  arms,  and  that  by  the  help  of  foreign 
allies,  when  the  very  being  of  the  new  power  was  a  badge  of 
triumph  over  the  old,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  the  natural  self- 
assertion  of  a  new-born  people  often  took  the  form  of  putting  the 
past,  the  dependent  past,  as  far  as  might  be  out  of  sight.  Parents 
and  brethren  had  become  enemies  ;  strangers  had  acted  as  friends  ; 
it  was  not  wonderful  if  it  was  thqught  a  point  of  honor  to  snap 
the  old  ties  as  far  as  might  be ;  to  take  up  in  everything,  as  far  as 
might  be,  the  position  of  a  new  nation,  rather  than  that  of  a 
severed  branch  of  an  old  nation.  I  can  understand  that  the 
Englishman  of  America  may  be  tempted  to  see  something  of 
sacrifice,  something  like  surrender  of  his  national  position,  when 
he  is  called  on  to  admit  himself  simply  to  be  an  Englishman  of 
America.  The  Englishman  of  Britain  has  no  such  difficulties. 
To  his  eye  the  kindred  lies  on  the  surface,  plain  to  be  seen  of  all 
men.  But  it  is  not  wonderful  if  the  eye  of  the  Englishman  of 
America  is  a  degree  less  clear-sighted.  He  may  be  pardoned  if 
to  him  the  kindred  does  not  lie  so  visibly  on  the  surface ;  if  it  is 
to   him   something  which   he   gladly   acknowledges  when   it   is 


American  Institutional  History.  23 

pointed  out,  but  which   he  needs  to  have  pointed  out  before  lie 

acknowledges  it 

The  ideal  after  which  I  would  fain  strive  would  be  for  all  mem- 
bers.of  the  scattered  English  folk  to  feel  at  least  us  close  a  tie  to 
one  another  as  was  felt  of  old  by  all  members  of  the  scattered 
Hellenic  folk.  Geographical  distance,  political  separation,  fierce 
rivalry,  cruel  warfare,  never  snapped  the  enduring  tie  which 
bound  every  Greek  to  every  other  Greek.  So  the  Englishman  of 
Britain,  of  America,  of  Africa,  of  Australia,  should  be  each  to 
his  distant  brother  as  were  the  Greek  of  Massalia,  the  Greek  of 
Kyrene,  and  the  Greek  of  Cherson.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  a 
piece  of  pedantry  to  hint  at  the  fact,  but  the  fact  is  none  the  less 
true  and  practical,  that,  in  order  to  compass  this  end,  the  scat- 
tered branches  of  the  common  stock  must  have  a  common  name. 
This  the  old  Greeks  had.  The  Hellen  remained  a  Hellen  where- 
ever  he  settled  himself,  and  wherever  he  settled  himself  the  land 
on  which  he  settled  became  Hellas.  The  Greek  of  Attica  or 
Peloponnesos  did  not  distinguish  himself  from  the  Greek  of  Spain 
by  calling  himself  a  Greek  and  his  distant  kinsman  a  Spaniard. 
But  it  is  hard  to  find  a  name  fitted  in  modern  usage  to  take  in  nil 
the  scattered  branches  of  the  English  folk.  A  certain  class  of 
orators  on  both  sides  of  Ocean  would  seem  to  have  dived  into 
the  charters  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  and  to  have 
hence  fished  up  the  antiquated  name  of  "  Anglo-Saxon."  We 
hear  much  big  talk  about  the  "Anglo-Saxon  race,"  somewhat  to 
the  wrong  of  that  greater  Teutonic  body  of  which  Angles  and 
Saxons  are  fellow-members  with  many  others.  But  those  who 
use  the  name  probably  attach  no  particular  meaning  to  it  ;  to 
them  it  goes  along  with  such  modern  creations  as  Anglo-Nor- 
mans, Anglo-Indians,  Anglo-Catholics.  The  very  narrow  his- 
torical sense  of  the  word  "Anglo-Saxon  "  is  never  thought  of.  It 
is  not  remembered  that  its  use  was  to  mark  the  union  of  Angles 
and  Saxons  under  one  king,  a  use  which  naturally  was  forgotten 
as  the  distinctions  between  Angles  and  Saxons  was  forgotten. 
Anyhow  the  name  is  antiquated  and  affected;  it  is  not  the  name 
which  most  naturally  springs  to  any  man's  lips:  it  is  a  name 
artificially  devised  to  answer  a  certain  purpose.  For  the  English- 
man of  Britain  and  the  Englishman  of  America  to  greet  one 
another  as  "  Anglo-Saxons »  is  very  much   as  if   the  Greek   ol 


24  An  Introduction  to 

Peloponnesos  and  the  Greek  of  Spain  had  greeted  one  another, 
not  as  Hellenes,  but  as  Danaans  or  Pelasgians.  Yet  there  cer- 
tainly is  a  difficulty,  such  as  the  Greek  never  felt,  in  their  greeting 
one  another  by  their  true  name  of  Knglishraen 

In  England  I  have  ever  preached  the  lesson  "antiquam  ex- 
quirite  niatrem,"  while  in  America  I  have,  at  the  expense  of  meter, 
preached  it  in  the  shape  of  "  antiquiorem  exquirite  matrem."  I  am 
not  likely  to  forget  that  if  the  English  settlements  in  America  are 
colonies  of  the  English  settlements  in  Britain,  so  the  English 
settlements  in  Britain  are  themselves  colonies  of  the  older 
English  land  on  the  European  mainland.  In  the  wider  history 
of  the  three  Englands  no  fact  is  of  greater  moment ;  it  is  in  fact 
the  kernel,  almost  the  essence,  of  their  whole  history.  Still  the 
constant  acknowledgment  and  carrying  about  of  that  fact  is  a 
kind  of  counsel  of  perfection  which  every  one  cannot  be  expected 
to  bear  in  mind.  The  analogy  between  the  European  and  Ameri- 
can settlements  is  real,  but  it  is  hidden.  The  points  of  unlikeness 
lie  on  the  surface.  The  far  longer  time  of  separation  between 
the  first  England  and  the  second,  the  consequences  following  on 
that  longer  separation,  above  all  the  far  wider  break  in  the 
matter  of  language  and  institutions — to  say  nothing  of  the  wide 
diversity  in  date  and  circumstances  between  the  settlements  of  the 
sixth  century  and  the  settlements  of  the  seventeenth — all  these 
things  join  together  to  make  the  relations  between  the  first 
England  and  the  second  altogether  unlike  the  relations  between 
the  second  England  and  the  third.  The  oldest  England  on  the 
European  continent  should  never  be  forgotten  by  the  men  of  the 
middle  England  in  the  isle  of  Britain.  But  it  never  can  be  to 
them  all  that  the  middle  England  in  the  isle  of  Britain  surely 
ought  to  be  to  the  men  of  the  newest  England  on  the  mainland 
of  America. 

The  main  ties  between  the  motherland  and  her  great  colony 
are  the  two  main  results  of  community  of  stock  ;  that  is,  commu- 
nity of  language  and  community  of  law It  is  pleasant 

to  see  an  American  law  library,  with  English  and  American  books 
side  by  side.  It  is  pleasant  to  hear  an  American  legal  pleading, 
in  which  the  older  English  legislation,  the  older  English  decisions, 
are  dealt  with  as  no  less  binding  than  the  legislation  and  decisions 
of  the  local  courts  and  assemblies,  and  where  the  English  legisla- 


American  Institutional  History.  25 

tion  and  decisions  of  later  times  are  held  to  be,  though  not 
formally  binding,  yet  entitled  to  no  small  respect.  As  to  out- 
ward appearances  indeed,  most  of  the  American  courts  have  lost 
the  pomp  and  circumstances  with  which  we  are  accustomed  to 
clothe  the  administration  of  the  higher  justice  at  home.  It  is 
only  in  that  great  tribunal  which  can  sit  in  judgment  on  the  legis- 
lation of  a  nation,  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
that  any  trace  is  left  of  the  outward  majesty  of  the  law  as  it  is 
understood  in  England.  But  look  at  any  American  Court,  in 
such  States  at  least  as  I  have  visited,  and  we  see  that  the  real 
life  of  English  law  and  English  justice  is  there.  All  the  essential 
principles,  all  the  essential  forms,  are  there.  The  very  cry  of 
oyez,  meaningless  most  likely  in  the  mouth  of  the  crier  who  utters 
it,  not  only  tells  us  that  it  is  the  law  of  England  which  is  adminis- 
tering, but  reminds  us  how  largely  the  older  law  of  England  was 
recast — not  more  than  recast — at  the  hands  of  the  Norman  and 
the  Angevin.  We  feel  that  the  law  which  is  laid  down  by  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson  or  the  Potomac  is  still  the  law  of  King 
Edward  with  the  amendments  of  King  William.  Sometimes 
indeed,  when  we  find  the  newer  England  cleaving  to  cumbrous 
tradition  which  the  elder  England  has  cast  away,  we  feel  that 
a  few  further  amendments  of  later  days  would    not   be  out  of 

place 

I  am  not  forgetful  that  the  laws  of  different  States  are  very  far 
from  being  everywhere  the  same,  and  that  the  legislation  of  some 
States  has  brought  in  some  startling  differences  from  the  legisla- 
tion both  of  England  and  of  other  States.  But  we  may  still 
carry  on  our  eleventh  century  formula.  The  law  is  not  a  new 
law;  it  is  the  old  law,  with  certain — perhaps  very  considerable — 
amendments.  Even  if  it  be  held  that  a  new  superstructure  hns 
been  built  up,  it  has  been  built  up  upon  an  old  groundwork. 
Here  there  is  a  tie,  not  only  to  the  mother-country,  but  to  an  old 
side  of  the  mother-country.  A  real  American  lawyer  must  be  an 
English  lawyer  too.  He  cannot  fail  to  know  something  of  the 
history  of  the  land  whose  laws  it  becomes  his  duty  to  master  ;  he 
may  know  at  least  as  much  as  the  English  lawyer  himself  conde- 
scends to  know.  And  I  can  witness  that  there  are  American 
lawyers  who  go  somewhat  further  than  the  ordinary  English  law- 
yer thinks  it  his  business  to  go.  If  a  good  many  are  still  floun- 
4 


26  An  Introduction  to 

doring  in  the  quag-mire  of  Blackstone,  there  are  some  who  have 
in  m!c  their  way  to  the  firm  ground  of  Stubbs  and  Maine. 

The  nature  of  Blackstone  suggests  a  state  of  mind  which  I 
certainly  cannot  call  an  American  peculiarity,  which  it  may  be 
going  too  far  to  call  even  an  American  characteristic.  For  the 
state  of  mind  of  which  I  speak,  though  it  was  brought  forcibly  to 
my  notice  on  the  other  side  of  Ocean,  is  only  too  common  in 
•  England  also,  and  in  many  parts  besides.  I  remember  years  ago 
acting  as  Examiner  at  Oxford  with  a  man  who,  whatever  may 
have  been  his  attainments  as  a  lawyer,  had  certainly  made  a  good 
deal  of  money  at  the  bar.  He  made  the  men  who  were  examined 
say  that  the  Conqueror  introduced  the  feudal  system  at  the  Great 
Council  of  Salisbury.  I  implored  him  to  say  nothing  of  the 
kind,  and  explained  to  him  that  the  legislation  of  Salisbury  was 
the  exact  opposite  to  what  he  fancied.  My  colleague  refused  to 
hearkeu ;  he  had  to  examine  in  law ;  Blackstone  was  the  great 
oracle  of  the  law ;  Blackstone  put  the  matter  as  he  put  it,  and 
he  could  not  go  beyond  Blackstone.  This  is  an  extreme  case  of 
a  man  who  cannot  get  beyond  his  modern  book,  and  to  whom  the 
notion  of  an  original  authority  is  something  which  never  came 
into  his  head.  I  believe  there  is  in  all  parts  of  the  world  a  large 
class  of  people  into  whose  heads  it  never  does  come  that  history 
is  written  from  original  sources.  I  have  had  talks  with  people, 
and  have  received  letters  from  people,  who  clearly  thought  that  I 
or  auy  other  writer  of  history  did  it  all  from  some  kind  of  intui- 
tion or  revelation,  who  had  no  idea  that  we  got  our  knowledge 
by  turning  over  this  book  and  that.  And  I  have  known  others 
who  have  got  beyond  this  stage,  who  know  that  we  get  our  know- 
ledge from  earlier  writings,  but  who  fancy  that  these  earlier 
writings  are  something  altogether  strange  and  rare,  the  exclusive 
possession  of  a  certain  class,  and  placed  altogether  out  of  the 
reach  of  any  but  members  of  that  class.  They  are  amazed  if 
you  tell  them  that  for  large  parts  of  history,  for  all  those  parts 
with  which  I  am  mainly  concerned,  the  sources  lie  open  to  every 
man,  and  that  the  only  advantage  which  the  professed  historian 
has  is  the  greater  skill  which  long  practice  may  be  supposed  to 
have  given  him  in  the  art  of  using  the  sources.  Now  this  state 
of  mind,  one  which  practically  does  not  know  that  there  are  any 
sources,  common  enough  in  England,  is  commoner  still  in  America. 


American  Institutional  History.  27 

There,  if  we  except  a  small  body  of  scholars  of  the  first  rank, 
original  sources  seem  to  be  practically  unknown.  It  struck  me 
that,  with  regard  to  reading  and  knowledge — at  least  in  those 
branches  of  which  I  can  judge— America  stands  to  England  very 
much  as  England  stands  to  Germany.  I  conceive  that  in  Ger- 
many the  proportion  of  those  who  know  something  is  smaller 
than  it  is  in  England,  while  the  proportion  of  those  who  know  a 
great  deal  is  certainly  larger.  Anyhow  this  distinction  is  per- 
fectly true  between  England  and  America.  There  is  a  mysterious 
being  called  the  "  general  reader,"  of  whom  some  editors  seem  to 
live  in  deadly  fear.  Now  I  had  long  suspected  that  the  "general 
reader"  was  not  *so  great  a  fool  as  the  editors  seemed  to  think, 
and  my  American  experience  has  confirmed  that  suspicion. 
America  strikes  me  as  the  land  of  the  "general  reader;"  and, 
if  so,  I  am  not  at  all  disposed  to  think  scorn  of  the  "general 
reader."  It  seemed  to  me  that  in  America  the  reading  class,  the 
class  of  those  who  read  widely,  who  read,  as  far  as  they  go,  intel- 
ligently, but  who  do  not  read  deeply — the  class  of  those  who, 
without  being  professed  scholars,  read  enough  and  know  enough 
to  be  quite  worth  talking  to — form  a  larger  proportion  of  man- 
kind in  America  than  they  do  in  England.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  class  of  those  who  read  really  deeply,  the  class  of  professed 
scholars,  is  certainly  much  smaller  in  proportion  in  America  than 
it  is  in  England.  The  class  exists;  it  numbers  some  who  have 
done  thoroughly  good  work,  and  others  from  whom  thoroughly 
good  work  maybe  looked  for;  but  it  sometimes  fails  to  show 
itself  where  one  might  most  have  expected  to  find  it.  Men  from 
whose  position  one  might  have  expected  something  more  seem 
hardly  to  have  grasped  the  conception  of  original  authorities. 
One  sees  college  library  after  college  library  which  docs  not  con- 
tain a  volume  of  the  Chronicles  and  Memorials,  where  the  exist- 
ence of  that  great  series  seems  to  be  unknown.  I  met  men  who 
admired  Dr.  Stubbs  as  they  ought  to  do,  who  had  read  his  Con- 
stitutional History  carefully,  but  who  had  never  so  much  as  heard 
of  those  wonderful  prefaces,  those  living  pictures  of  men  and 
times,  on  which,  even  more  than  on  the  Constitutional  History, 
the  fame  of  the  great  Professor  must  rest.  How  little  some  men, 
even  in  the  chair  of  the  teacher,  have  grasped  the  nature  of  the 
materials  for  historic  study  came  out  in  a  curious  dialogue  which 


28  An  Introduction  to 

I  had  with  an  American  professor,  I  think  a  professor  of  history. 
He  asked  me,  "  Where  do  you  write  your  works  tn  "  In  my  own 
house,  to  be  sure,"  I  answered,  "where  else  should  I  ?"  "  O  but 
you  can't  do  them  in  your  own  house ;  you  can't  have  the  rare 
books  and  the  curious  manuscripts  ;  you  must  be  always  going  to 
the  British  Museum."  He  was  a  good  deal  amazed  when  I 
explained  to  him  that  all  the  important  books  for  my  period  were 
printed,  that  I  had  them  all  around  me  in  my  own  not  wonder- 
fully large  library,  that  it  was  the  rarest  thing  for  me  in  writing 
ray  history  to  need  a  book  that  was  not  in  my  library,  that  I  had 
never  in  ray  life  made  use  of  the  British  Museum  library,  and  not 
very  often  of  the  Bodleian  itself — that,  for  a  few  unprinted  manu- 
scripts which  I  knew  would  be  of  use  to  me  the  British  Museum 
would  give  me  no  help,  as  they  did  not  happen  to  be  there — that, 
as  a  mere  affair  of  the  pocket,  it  was  cheaper  as  well  as  more 
convenient  to  buy  books  for  oneself  than  to  take  long  journeys  in 
order  to  read  other  people's  books  elsewhere.  All  this  seemed 
altogether  a  new  light  to  my  friend.  Of  course  a  student  of  some 
other  periods  could  not  have  made  the  same  answer  that  I  did. 
There  are  times  for  which  the  library  of  the  British  Museum  or 
any  other  public  library,  must  be  invaluable,  but  those  times  are 
not  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  But  it  is  plain  that  to 
my  professor  all  centuries  were  much  alike ;  he  knew  that  there 
were  such  things  as  original  sources,  but  they  seemed  to  him  to 
be  something  strange,  mysterious,  and  inaccessible,  something  of 
which  a  private  man  could  not  hope  to  be  the  owner.  That  a 
man  could  have  the  Chronicles  and  Florence  and  Oderic  lying  on 
his  table  as  naturally  as  he  might  have  Caesar  and  Tacitus  had 
never  come  into  his  head.  I  heard  a  good  deal  in  America  of 
the  difficulty  of  getting  books,  which  I  did  not  quite  understand. 
It  is  surely  as  easy  to  get  a  book,  whether  from  London  or  from 
Leipzig,  in  America  as  it  is  in  England  ;  the  book  simply  takes 
somewhat  longer  to  come.  But  I  can  understand  that  American 
scholars  may  keenly  feel  one  difficulty  which  I  feel  very  keenly 
too.  This  is  the  utter  hopelessness  of  keeping  up  with  the  ever- 
growing mass  of  German  books,  and  yet  more  with  the  vaster 
mass  of  treatises  which  are  hidden  in  German  periodicals  and 
local  transactions.  Of  all  of  these  every  German  scholar  expects 
us  all  to  be  masters,  while  to  most  of  us  they  are  practically  as 


American  Institutional  History.  29 

inaccessible  as  if  they  were  shut  up  in  the  archives  of  the  Vatican. 
When  a  German,  and  yet  more  when  a  Swiss,  scholar  gets  any 
fresh  light,  his  first  impulse  is  carefully  to  hide  it  under  a  bushel, 
and  then  he  expects  all  mankind  to  enter  in  and  see  the  dark- 
ness. 

I  think  I  may  fairly  say  that  the  state  of  things  of  which  I 
speak,  not  so  much  mere  ignorance  of  original  sources  as  failure 
to  grasp  the  existence  and  the  nature  of  original  sources,  while 
sadly  rife  in  England,  is  yet  more  rife  in  America.  But  I  need 
hardly  say  that  America  has  men  of  sound  learning  in  various 
branches  of  knowledge  of  whom  no  land  need  be  ashamed.  At 
Harvard,  at  Yale,  at  Cornell,  the  most  fastidious  in  the  choice  of 
intellectual  society  may  be  well  satisfied  with  his  companions. 
And  there  is  a  younger  school  of  American  scholarship  growing 
up,  of  which,  and  of  its  researches,  I  cannot  help  saying  a  few 
words  more  directly.  Students  of  early  English  history  and  lan- 
guage have  had  of  late  to  acknowledge  much  valuable  help  in 
several  shapes  from  the  western  branch  of  their  people.  But  the 
school  of  which  I  have  to  speak  is  one  which,  among  its  other 
merits,  has  the  special  merit  of  being  distinctively  American,  of 
being  the  natural  and  wholesome  fruit  of  American  soil.  Its 
researches  have  taken  that  special  direction  which  one  might  say 
that  American  research  was  called  upon  to  take  before  all  others. 
The  new  school  is  the  natural  complement  of  an  elder  school  which 
has  been  useful  in  its  time,  but  which  could  at  the  utmost  serve 
only  as  the  pioneer  toward  something  higher. 

Even  from  the  days  before  independence,  the  English  colonies 
in  America  have  never  lacked  local  historians.  Every  State, 
every  district,  almost  every  township,  has  found  its  chronicler. 
And  worthily  so;  for  every  State,  every  district,  every  township, 
has  its  history.  In  New  England  above  all,  the  history  of  even 
the  smallest  community  has  some  political  instruction  to  give  us. 
The  history  of  New  England  is  a  history  of  exactly  the  same 
kind  as  the  history  of  old  Greece  or  of  mediaeval  Switzerland, 
the  history  of  a  great  number  of  small  communities,  each  full  of 
political  life,  most  of  them  reproducing  ancient  forms  of  Teutonic 
political  life,  which  have  died  out  in  the  elder  England  and  which 
live  only  among  the  lakes  and  mountains  of  the  elder  Switzer- 
land.    The  institutions  of  anv  community  in  the  Thirteen  Colo- 


30  An  Introduction  to 

nies,  above  all  of  any  community  in  New  England,  are  more  than 
a  mere  object  of  local  interest  and  curiosity.  They  show  us  the 
institutions  of  the  elder  England,  neither  slavishly  carried  on  nor 
scornfully  cast  aside,  but  reproduced  with  such  changes  as  changed 
circumstances  called  for,  and  those  for  the  most  part  changes  in 
the  direction  of  earlier  times.  As  many  of  the  best  reforms  in 
our  own  land  have  been — often  unwittingly,  and  when  unwit- 
tingly all  the  better — simply  falling  back  on  the  laws  and  customs 
of  earlier  times,  so  it  has  specially  been  with  the  reforms  which 
were  needed  when  the  New  England  arose  on  the  western  shore 
of  Ocean.  The  old  Teutonic  assembly,  rather  the  old  Aryan 
assembly,  which  had  not  long  died  out  in  the  Frisian  sea-lands, 
which  still  lived  on  in  the  Swabian  mountain-lands,  rose  again  to 
full  life  in  the  New  England  town-meeting.  Here  we  have,  sup- 
plied by  the  New  England  States,  a  direct  contribution,  and  one 
of  the  most  valuable  of  contributions,  to  the  general  history  of 
Teutonic  political  life,  and  thereby  to  the  general  history  of 
common  Aryan  political  life.  And  other  parts  of  the  Union  also, 
though  their  contributions  are  on  the  whole  of  less  interest  than 
those  of  New  England,  have  something  to  add  to  the  common 
stock.  Each  of  the  colonies  reproduced  some  features  of  English 
life ;  but  different  colonies  reproduced  different  sides  and,  so  to 
speak,  different  dates  of  English  life.  All  these  points  in  the 
local  history  of  the  colonies  need  to  be  put  in  their  right  relation 
to  one  another  and  to  other  English,  other  Teutonic,  other  Aryan 
institutions.  This  would  seem  to  be  a  study  to  which  the 
scholars  of  the  United  States  are  specially  called.  The  study  of 
institutions,  the  scientific  exposition  of  what  America  has  to  teach 
us  on  that  head,  has  been  taken  up  by  those  who  have  come  in  the 
wake  of  the  older  school  of  American  inquirers.  On  the  more 
homely  researches  of  the  local  chronicler  there  naturally  follows  a 
newer  and  more  advanced  class  of  inquirers,  men  who  not  only 
collect  facts,  but  who  know  how  to  put  the  facts  which  they  col- 
lect into  their  proper  place  in  the  general  history  of  mankind. 
I  have  hitherto  abstained  from  mentioning  names ;  it  is  often 
invidious  to  pick  and  choose,  and  some  of  those  whom  I  have  had 
in  my  eye  may  claim  the  benefit  of  the  proverb  that  good  wine 
needs  no  bush.  But  a  young  and  growing  school,  which  still  has 
difficulties  to  struggle  against,  may  be  glad  of  a  good  word  on 


American  Institutional  History.  31 

either  side  of  Ocean.  I  cannot  help  mentioning  the  school  which 
is  now  devoting  itself  to  the  special  study  of  local  institutions,  a 
school  which  is  spread  over  various  parts  of  the  Union,  but  wliicli 
seems  to  have  its  special  home  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  University 
at  Baltimore,  .... 

To  trace  out  the  local  institutions,  and  generally  the  local  history 
of  their  own  land,  to  compare  them  with  the  history  and  institutions 
of  elder  lands,  to  show  that  it  is  only  on  the  surface  that  their  own 
land  lacks  the  charm  of  antiquity,  is  the  work  which  seems  chalked 
out  for  the  inquirers  of  this  school,  and  a  noble  and  patriotic  work 
it  is.  An  eye  accustomed  to  trace  the  likenesses  and  unlikenesses 
of  history  will  rejoice  to  see  the  Germans  of  Tacitus  live  once 
more  in  the  popular  gatherings  of  New  England — to  see  in  the 
strong  life  of  Rhode  Island  a  new  Appenzell  beyond  the  Ocean — 
to  see  the  Great  City  of  Arcadia  rise  again  in  the  federal  capital 
by  the  Potomac.  North  and  South,  and  the  older  West  also, 
has  each  its  help  to  give,  and  materials  to  furnish.  Viewed 
rightly,  with  the  eye  of  general  history,  it  is  no  mean  place  in  the 
annals  of  the  world  that  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  two  great  common- 
wealths between  which  the  earliest,  and  till  our  own  days  the 
greatest  presidencies  of  the  American  Union  were  so  unequally 
divided 

I  said  before  that  it  is  a  witness  to  the  life  and  strength  of  the 
true  English  kernel  in  the  United  States  that,  notwithstanding 
the  lavish  admission  of  men  of  all  kinds  to  citizenship,  that  English 
kernel  still  remains  the  kernel  round  which  everything  grows  and 
to  which  everything  else  assimilates  itself.  There  is  that  kind 
of  difference  between  the  English  in  Britain  and  the  English  in 
America  which  could  not  fail  to  be  under  the  different  circumstances 
of  the  two  branches.  Each  of  them  is  the  common  forefather  of 
earlier  times  modified  as  the  several  positions  of  his  several  de- 
scendants could  not  fail  to  modify  him.  In  constitutional  matters 
the  closeness  with  which  the  daughter  has,  wherever  it  was  possible, 
reproduced  the  parent  is  shown  perhaps  in  the  most  remarkable 
way  in  the  prevalence  alike  in  the  Union,  in  the  Slates,  and  in 
many  at  least  of  the  cities,  of  the  system  of  two  houses  in  a  legis- 
lative body.  We  are  so  familiar  with  that  system  from  its  repetition 
in  countless  later  constitutions  that  we  are  apt  to  forget  that,  when 
the  Federal  constitution  of  the  United  States  was  drawn  up,  that 


32  An  Introduction  to 

system  was  by  no  means  the  rule,  and  that  its  adoption  in  the 
United  States  was  a  very  remarkable  instance  of  cleaving  to  the 
institutions  of  the  mother  country.     Though  the  United  States 
Senate,  the  representative  of  the  separate  being  and  the  political 
equality  of  the  States,  has  some  functions  quite  different  from  those 
of  the  House  of  Lords,  yet  it  would  hardly  have  come  into  the 
heads  of  constitution- makers  who  were  not  familiar  with  the  House 
of  Lords.     I  may  here  quote  the  remark  of  an  acute  American 
friend  that  the  Senate  is  as  superior  to  the  House  of  Lords  as  the 
House  of  Representatives  is  inferior  to  the  House  of  Commons. 
A  neat  epigram  of  this  kind  is  seldom  literally  true ;  but  this  one 
undoubtedly  has  some  truth  in  it.     It  follows  almost  necessarily 
from  the  difference  between  the  British  and  American  constitutions 
that  in  the  American  Congress  the  Upper  House  should  be,  in 
character  and  public  estimation,  really  the  Upper   House.     In 
Great  Britain  no  statesman  of  the  first  rank  and  in  the  vigor  of 
life  has  any  temptation  to  exchange  the  House  of  Commons  for  the 
House  of  Lords.     By  so  doing  he  would  leave  an  assembly  of 
greater  practical  authority  for  one  of  much  less.     But  in  the 
United  States  such  a  statesman  has  every  temptation  to  leave  the 
House  of  Representatives  for  the  Senate  as  soon  as  he  can.     As 
neither  House  can  directly  overthrow  a  Government  in  the  way 
that  the  House  of  Commons  can  in  England,  while  the  Senate 
has  a  share  in  various  acts  of  the  executive  power  with  which  the 
House  of  Representatives  has  nothing  to  do,  the  Senate  is  really 
the  assembly  of  greater  authority.     Its  members,  chosen  for  six 
years  by  the  State  Legislatures,  while  the  Representatives  are 
chosen  by  the  people  for  two  years,  have  every  advantage  as  to 
the  tenure  of  their  seats,  and  it  is  not  wonderful  to  find  that  re- 
election is  far  more  the  rule  in  the  Senate  than  in  the  House.     I 
had  to  explain  more  than  once  that  it  was  a  rare  thing  in  Eng- 
land for  a  member  of  Parliament  to  lose  his  seat,  unless  he  had 
given  some  offense  to  his  own  party  or  unless  the  other  party  had 
grown  strong  enough  to  bring  in  a  man  of  its  own.     In  America, 
it  seems,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  a  Representative  to  be  dismissed 
by  his  constituents  of  his  own  party,  simply  because  it  is  thought 
that  he  has  sat  long  enough  and  because  another  man  would  like 
the  place.     Here  the  difference  between  paid  and  unpaid  mem- 
bers comes  in:  where  members  are  paid,  there  will  naturally  be  a 


American  Institutional  History.  33 

larger  stock  of  candidates  to  choose  from.  I  was  present  at  sit- 
tings of  both  Houses,  and  there  was  certainly  a  most  marked 
difference  in  point  of  order  and  decorum  between  the  two.  The 
Senate  seemed  to  be  truly  a  Senate ;  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives struck  me  as  a  scene  of  mere  hubbub  rather  than  of  real 
debate.  One  incident  specially  struck  me  as  illustrating  the  con- 
stitutional provision  which  shuts  out  the  Ministers  of  the  Presi- 
dent from  Congress.  One  Representative  made  a  fierce  attack 
on  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
was  not  there  to  defend  himself.  Generally  I  should  say,  the 
House  of  Representatives  and  the  Legislative  bodies  which 
answer  to  it  in  the  several  States,  illustrate  Lord  Macaulay'a 
saying  about  the  necessity  of  a  Ministry  to  keep  a  Parliament  in 
order.  One  result  is  the  far  larger  powers  which  in  these  assem- 
blies are  given  to  the  Speaker.  And  these  are  again  attended 
by  the  danger  of  turning  the  Speaker  himself  into  the  instrument 
of  a  party. 

The  differences  of  procedure  between  our  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment and  the  American  assemblies,  Federal  and  State,  are  very 
curious  and  interesting,  specially  just  now  when  the  question  of 
Parliamentary  procedure  has  taken  to  itself  so  much  attention. 
But  I  must  hasten  on  to  give  my  impression  of  other  matters, 
rather  than  attempt  to  enlarge  on  a  point  which  I  cannot  say  that 
I  have  specially  studied.  The  State  legislatures  are  the  features 
of  American  political  life  which  are  most  distinctive  of  the  federal 
system,  and  to  which  there  cannot  be  anything  exactly  answering 
among  ourselves.  It  must  always  be  remembered  that  a  State 
legislature  does  not  answer  to  a  town  council  or  a  court  of  quar- 
ter sessions.  It  is  essentially  a  parliament,  though  a  parliament 
with  limited  functions  and  which  can  never  be  called  on  to  deal 
with  the  highest  questions  of  all.  Still  the  range  of  the  State 
legislatures  is  positively  very  wide,  and  takes  in  most  things  which 
concern  the  daily  affairs  of  mankind.  A  large  part  of  their  bus- 
iness seems  commonly  to  consist  in  the  passing  of  private  bills, 
acts  of  incorporation  and  the  like.  Some  Stat  es  seem  to  have  found 
that  constant  legislation  on  such  matters  was  not  needed,  and 
have  therefore  thought  good  that  their  legislatures  should  meet 
only  every  other  year.  In  Pennsylvania,  therefore,  where  I  had 
good  opportunities  of  studying  some  other  matters,  1  had  no 
5 


34  An  Introduction  to 

opportunities  of  studying  the  working  of  a  State  legislature. 
When  I  was  there,  municipal  life  was  in  full  vigor  in  Philadelphia, 
but  State  life  was  dead  at  Harrisburg.  But  I  came  in  for  a  sight 
of  the  legislature  of  New  York  at  the  time  of  the  "  dead  lock  " 
early  this  year.  For  week  after  week  the  Lower  House  found  it 
impossible  to  elect  a  Speaker.  And  this  was  not  the  result  of 
absolute  equality  between' the  two  great  parties.  It  was  because 
a  very  small  body  of  men,  who  had  no  chance  of  carrying  a 
candidate  from  among  themselves,  thought  fit,  in  ballot  after 
ballot,  to  hinder  the  election  of  the  acknowledged  candidate  of 
either  side.  This  illustrates  the  result  of  the  rule  which  requires 
an  absolute  majority.  I  pointed  out  to  several  friends  on  the 
spot  that  no  such  dead  lock  could  have  happened  in  the  British 
House  of  Commons.  I  know  not  how  far  the  existence  of  a 
regular  Ministry  and  Opposition  would  hinder  the  possibility  of 
this  particular  kind  of  scandal ;  but  it  is  hard  to  conceive  the 
existence  of  a  ministry  in  our  sense  in  a  State  constitution.  Even 
in  our  still  dependent  colonies  the  reproduction  of  our  system  of 
ministries  going  in  and  out  in  consequence  of  a  parliamentary 
vote,  may  be  thought  to  be  somewhat  out  of  place.  Still  the 
Governor,  named  by  an  external  power,  has  much  of  the  position 
of  a  king,  and  his  relations  to  his  ministry  and  his  parliament 
can  in  a  manner  reproduce  those  of  the  sovereign  in  the  mother- 
country.  But  it  is  hard  to  conceive  an  elective  Governor,  above 
all  the  Governor  of  such  a  state  as  Rhode  Island  or  Delaware,  work- 
ing through  the  conventionalities  of  a  responsible  ministry. 
Indeed  even  in  such  a  state  as  New  York  there  is  still  something 
patriarchal  about  the  office  of  Governor.  While  I  was  in  the 
Capitol  at  Albany,  the  friends  of  a  condemned  criminal  came  to 
plead  with  the  Governor  in  person  for  the  exercise  of  his  preroga- 
tive of  mercy.  Now  the  population  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
swelled  by  one  overgrown  city,  is  greater  than  that  of  Ireland ; 
even  in  its  natural  state,  it  would  be  much  greater  than  that  of 
Scotland.  I  thought  of  the  days  when  the  King  did  sit  in  the 
gate. 

The  personal  heads  of  the  Union,  the  State,  and  the  City,  the 
President,  the  Governor,  the  Mayor,  all  come  from  English  tra- 
dition. If  we  study  the  commonwealths  of  other  ages  and  coun- 
tries, we  shall  see  that  this  great  position  given  to  a  single  man, 


American  Institutional  History.  :)") 

though  by  no  means  without  precedent,  is  by  no  moans  the 
rule.  The  title  of  Governor  especially  is  directly  handed  on 
from  the  days  before  independence.  It  would  hardly  have 
suggested  itself  to  the  founders  of  commonwealths  which  had 
not  been  used  to  the  Governor  sent  by  the  King.  The  pow- 
ers of  the  Governor  and  the  duration  of  his  office  differ  widely 
in  different  States,  even  in  neighboring  and  closely  kindred 
States.  The  Governor  of  Massachusetts  still  keeps  up  a  good 
deal  of  dignity,  while  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  is  a  much 
smaller  person.  Yet  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  holds  office 
for  a  longer  time  than  his  brother  of  Massachusetts.  The 
Mayor  too  does  not  hold  exactly  the  same  place  in  every  city. 
At  Brooklyn,  when  I  was  there,  a  great  point  in  the  way  of 
reform  was  held  to  have  been  won  by  greatly  enlarging  the 
powers  of  the  Mayor.  Men  who  could  well  judge  held  that 
purity  of  administration  was  best  attained  by  vesting  large  pow- 
ers in  single  persons,  elective,  responsible,  acting  under  the  eve 
of  the  public.  And  I  was  told  that,  even  in  the  worst  casus, 
better  results  come  from  the  election  of  single  officers  than  from 
the  election  of  larger  numbers.  The  popular  election  of  Judges, 
which  has  been  introduced  into  many  States,  is  one  of  the  things 
which  British  opinion  would  be  most  united  in  condemning.  We 
should  all  agree  in  wishing  that  both  the  Federal  courts  and 
the  courts  of  those  States  which,  like  Massachusetts,  cleave  to 
older  modes  of  appointment  may  stay  as  they  are.  But,  from 
what  I  could  hear  both  in  New  York  and  other  States  which 
have  adopted  the  elective  system,  the  results  are  better  than 
might  have  been  expected.  Each  party,  it  is  said,  makes  it  a 
point  of  honor  to  name  fairly  competent  candidates  for  the  judi- 
cial office.  So  again  the  municipal  administration  of  New  York 
city  was  for  years  a  by-word,  and  the  name  of  Alderman  was 
anything  but  a  name  of  honor.  But  even  in  the  worst  times, 
the  post  of  Mayor  was  almost  always  respectably  filled.  Even, 
so  I  was  told,  in  one  case  where  the  previous  record  of  the 
elected  Mayor  was  notoriously  bad,  his  conduct  in  office  was  not 

to  be  blamed 

I  was  greatly  interested  in  the  municipal  election  which  I  saw 
at  Philadelphia  early  this  year.  The  municipal  administration  of 
that  city  has,  like  that  of  2s'ew   York,   long  had   a   bad  name. 


36  An  Introduction  to 

Corruption,  jobbery,  the  rule  of  rings  and  "  bosses,"  and  above 
all,  what  to  us  sounds  odd,  the  corrupt  administration  of  the  Gas 
Trust,  were  loudly  complained  of.  And  I  certainly  am  greatly 
deceived  if  what  I  saw  and  studied  was  anything  but  a  vigorous 
and  honest  effort  to  bring  in  a  better  state  of  things.  Repub- 
licans and  Democrats  brought  themselves  to  forget  their  party 
differences ;  or  rather  party  names,  and  to  work  together  for  the 
welfare  and  honor  of  their  common  city.  The  movement  was 
described  to  me  in  a  way  at  which  I  have  already  hinted,  as  an 
union  of  honest  men  of  both  parties  against  the  rogues  of  both 
parties.  And  such,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  it  really  was.  I  did 
indeed  hear  it  whispered  that  such  fits  of  virtue  were  not  uncom- 
mon, both  in  Philadelphia  and  elsewhere,  that  they  wrought  some 
small  measure  of  reform  for  a  year  or  two,  but  that  in  order  to 
keep  the  ground  that  had  been  gained,  a  continuous  effort  was 
needed  which  men  were  not  willing  to  make,  and  that  things  fell 
back  into  their  old  corrupt  state.  And  it  is  certainly  plain  that 
the  man  who  gains  by  maintaining  corruption  is  likely  to  make 
great  habitual  efforts  to  keep  up  a  corrupt  system,  while  the  man 
who  opposes  it,  who  gains  nothing  by  opposing  it,  but  who  gives 
up  his  time,  his  quiet,  and  his  ordinary  business,  for  the  public 
good,  is  tempted  at  every  moment  to  relax  his  efforts.  This  failure 
of  continued  energy  is  just  what  Demosthenes  complains  of  in  the 
Athenians  of  his  day;  and  experience  does  seem  to  show  that 
here  is  a  weak  side  of  democratic  government.  To  keep  up 
under  a  popular,  system  an  administration  at  once  pure  and 
vigorous,  does  call  for  constant  efforts  on  the  part  of  each  citizen 
which  it  needs  some  self-sacrifice  to  make.  The  old  saying  that 
what  is  everybody's  business  is  nobody's  business  becomes  true  as 
regards  the  sounder  part  of  the  community.  But  it  follows  next 
that  what  is  everybody's  business  becomes  specially  the  business 
of  those  whose  business  one  would  least  wish  it  to  be.  Yet  my 
Philadelphian  friends  assured  me  that  they  had  been  steadily  at 
work  for  ten  years,  that  they  had  made  some  way  every  year,  but 
that  this  year  they  had  made  more  way  than  they  had  ever  made 
before.  The  immediate  business  was  to  dislodge  "  bosses  "  and 
other  corrupt  persons  from  the  municipal  councils,  and  to  put  in 
their  stead  men  of  character  and  ability,  whether  Republican  or 
Democratic  in  politics.     And  this  object,  surely  one  much  to  be 


American  Institutional  History.  37 

sought  for,  was,  as  far  as  I  could  see,  largely  accomplished.  I 
did  indeed  hear  the  murmurs  of  one  or  two  stern  Republicans, 
who  could  not  understand  supporting  a  list  which  contained  any 
Democratic  names.  But  the  other  view  seemed  to  be  the  popular 
one.  I  read  much  of  the  fugitive  election  literature,  and  attended 
one  of  the  chief  ward-meetings.  I  was  greatly  struck  by  the 
general  hearty  enthusiasm  in  what  was  not  a  party  struggle,  but 
an  honest  effort  for  something  above  party.  The  speaking  was 
vigorous,  straightforward,  often  in  its  way  eloquent,  It  was 
somewhat  more  personal  than  we  are  used  to  in  England,  even  at 
an  election.  But  here  again  my  comparison  is  perhaps  not  a  fair 
one.  As  I  before  said,  I  know  nothing  of  English  municipal 
elections,  and  the  Philadelphian  reformers  had  to  deal  with  evils 
which  have  no  parallel  in  the  broader  walks  of  English  political 
life.  Whatever  may  be  our  side  in  politics,  we  have  no  reason  to 
suspect  our  opponents  of  directly  filling  their  pockets  at  the 
public  cost. 

A  municipal  election  is  of  more  importance  in  America  than 
it  is  in  England,  because  of  the  large  powers,  amounting  to 
powers  of  local  legislation,  which  are  vested  in  the  cities.  This 
would  seem  to  be  the  natural  tendency  of  a  Federal  system.  It 
would  indeed  be  inaccurate  to  say  that  the  City  is  to  the  State 
what  the  State  is  to  the  Union.  For  the  powers  of  the  city  may 
of  course  be  modified  by  an  act  of  the  State  Legislature,  just  as 
the  powers  of  an  English  municipal  corporation  may  be  modified 
by  an  Act  of  Parliament,  while  no  mere  act  of  Congress,  nothing 
short  of  a  constitutional  amendment,  can  touch  the  powers  of  a 
Sovereign  State.  But  it  is  natural  for  a  member  of  an  Union, 
keeping  independent  powers  by  right,  to  allow  to  the  members 
of  its  own  body  a  large  amount  of  local  independence,  held  not 
of  right  but  of  grant.  An  American  city  is  more  thoroughly  a 
commonwealth,  it  has  more  of  the  feelings  of  a  commonwealth, 
than  an  English  city  has.  As  for  the  use  of  the  name,  we  must 
remember  that  in  the  United  States  every  corporate  town  is  called 
a  "city,"  while,  in  some  States  at  least,  what  we  should  call  11 
market-town  bears  the  legal  style  of  "village."  In  New  Eng- 
land the  cities  are  interlopers.  They  have  largely  obscured  the 
older  constitution  of  the  towns.  The  word  town  in  New  Kng- 
land  does  not,  as  with   us,  mean   a  collection   of  houses,  perhaps 


38  An  Introduction  to 

forming  a  political  community,  perhaps  not.  It  means  a  certain 
space  of  the  earth's  surface,  which  may  or  may  not  contain  a 
town  in  our  sense,  but  whose  inhabitants  form* a  political  com- 
munity in  either  case.  Its  assembly  is  the  town  meeting,  the 
survival,  or  rather  revival,  of  the  old  Teutonic  assembly  on  the 
soil  of  the  third  England.  This  primitive  institution  best  keeps 
its  ancient  character  in  the  country  districts  and  among  the  smal- 
ler towns  in  our  sense  of  the  word.  Where  a  "  city  "  has  been 
incorporated,  the  ancient  constitution  has  lost  much  of  its  impor- 
tance. It  has  not  been  abolished.  In  some  cases  at  least  the 
two  constitutions,  of  town  and  city,  the  Teutonic  primary  assem- 
bly and  the  later  system  of  representative  bodies,  go  on  side 
by  side  in  the  same  place.  Each  has  its  own  range  of  subjects; 
but  it  is  the  tendeucy  of  the  newer  institution  to  overshadow 
the  older.  I  deeply  regret  that  I  left  America  without  seeing 
a  New  England  town-meeting  with  my  own  eyes.  It  was  a 
thing  which  I  had  specially  wished  to  see,  if  only  in  order  to 
compare  it  with  what  I  had  seen  in  past  years  in  Uri  and 
Appenzell.  But  when  I  was  first  in  New  England,  it  was  the 
wrong  time  of  the  year,  and  my  second  visit  was  very  short.  I 
thus  unavoidably  lost  a  very  favorable  chance  of  seeing  what 
I  conceive  that  the  English  parish  vestry  ought  to    be    but   is 

not 

One  of  the  points  on  which  I  have  always  tried  to  insist  most 
strongly  is  the  true  historic  connection  between  the  constitutions 
of  England  and  of  the  United  States.  It  might  be  a  good  test  of 
those  who  have  and  those  who  have  not  made  comparative  politics 
a  scientific  study  to  see  whether  they  are  most  struck  by  the 
likenesses  or  the  unlikenesses  in  the  two  systems.  The  close 
analogy  in  the  apportionment  of  power  among  the  elements  of 
the  state  is  a  point  of  likeness  of  far  more  moment  even  than  the 
difference  in  the  form  of  the  Executive,  much  more  than  that  of 
the  different  constitution  of  the  upper  House.  The  American 
constitution,  as  I  have  rather  made  it  my  business  to  preach,  is 
the  English  constitution  with  such  changes — very  great  and  I 
important  changes  beyond  doubt — as  change  of  circumstances 
made  needful.  But  as  those  circumstances  have  certainly  not  been 
changed  back  again,  it  is  at  least  not  likely  that  the  constitu- 
tion of  America  will  ever  be  brought  nearer  than  it  now  is  to 


American  Institutional  History.  39 

the  constitution  of  England,  however  likely  it  may  be  that  the 
constitution  of  England  may  some  day  be  brought  nearer  to  the 

constitution  of  America 

To  me  the  past  history  and  the  present  condition  of  the  United 
States  is,  before  all  things,  a  part  of  the  general  history  of  the 
Teutonic  race,  and  specially  of  its  English  branch.  Of  that  his- 
tory the  destiny,  as  far  as  it  has  already  been  worked  out,  of  the 
American  commonwealths  forms  no  unimportant  part.  And  their 
future  destiny  is  undoubtedly  the  greatest  problem  in  the  long 
story  of  our  race.  The  union  on  American  soil  of  so  much  that  is 
new  and  so  much  that  is  old,  above  all  the  unwitting  preservation 
in  the  new  land  of  so  much  that  is  really  of  the  hoariest  antiquity 
in  the  older  world,  the  transfer  of  an  old  people  with  old  institutions 
to  an  altogether  new  world,  and  that  practically  a  boundless  world, 
supply  subjects  for  speculation  deeper  perhaps  than  any  earlier 
stage  of  the  history  of  our  race  could  have  supplied.  Like  all 
other  human  institutions,  the  political  and  social  condition  of  the 
United  States  has  its  fair  and  its  dark  side;  the  Union,  like  all 
other  human  communities,  must  look  for  its  trials,  its  ups  and 
downs,  iu  the  course  of  its  historic  life.  It  has  indeed  had  its 
full  share  of  them  already.  The  other  members  of  the  great 
family  may  well  be  proud  that  the  newest,  and  in  extent  the 
vastest,  among  the  independent  settlements  of  their  race,  has 
borne,  as  it  has  borne,  a  strain  as  hard  as  any  community  of  men 
was  ever  called  on  to  go  through.  And  we  of  the  motherland 
may  watch  with  special  interest  the  fortunes  of  that  branch  of 
our  own  people  on  whom  so  great  a  calling  has  been  laid.  And 
truly  we  may  rejoice  that,  with  so  much  to  draw  them  in  other  ways, 
that  great  people  still  remains  in  all  essential  points  an  English 
people,  more  English  very  often  than  they  themselves  know, 
more  English,  it  may  be,  sometimes  than  the  kinsfolk  whom  they 
left  behind  in  their  older  home. 


II 


THE  GERMANIC  ORIGIN 


NEW  ENGLAND  TOWNS 


"Si  Ton  veut  lire  l'admirable  ouvrage  de  Tacite  sur  les  moeurs  des  Germains,  on 
verra  que  c'est  d'eux  que  les  Anglois  ont  tir<j  l'idee  de  leur  gouvernement  politique. 
Ce  beau  systeiue  a  6t6  trouvfi  dans  les  bois." — Montesquieu. 

"Das  Studiuru  des  Gemeindewesens  in  Amerika,  dem  Sie  sich  jetzt  widmen,  wird 
sicher  sehr  fruchtbar  werden.  In  der  Gemeinde  ist  die  grosse  Mehre  der  Burger  mehr 
als  im  State  veranlasst,  an  offentlichen  Aneelegenlieiten  und  gemeinsamen  Interessen 
zu  betheiligen.  Die  Gemeinde  ist  iiberdem  auch  die  Vorschule  fiir  den  Stat.  Der  Bau 
der  Republiken  hat  seine  Grundlage  in  der  Selbstandigkeit  der  Gemeinden."— Bluntschli. 

"AH  New  England  is  an  aggregate  of  organized  democracies.  He  that  will  under- 
stand the  political  character  of  New  England  must  study  the  constitution  of  its  towns, 
its  schools,  and  its  militia." — Bancroft. 

"If  you  wish  to  see  Old  England,  you  must  go  to  New  England." — Freeman. 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

IN 

Historical   and    Political    Science 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 


History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History.— Freeman 


II 

THE  GERMANIC  ORIGIN 

OF 

NEW  ENGLAND  TOWNS 

Read  before  the  Harvard  Historical  Society,  May  9, 1881 

By  HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Ph.  D. 

With.    Notes    on    Cooperation    in    University    \N  orlc 


Published  by  the  Johns  Hopkins  L'nivkksitv 
B  A  L  T  I  M  0  It  K 

1882 


JOHN  MURPHY  A  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


THE    GERMANIC    ORIGIN 

O  F 

NEW  ENGLAND   TOWNS. 


The  reproduction  of  the  town  and  parish  systems  of  Old 
England  under  colonial  conditions  in  America  is  one  of  the 
most  curious  and  suggestive  phenomena  of  American  history. 
The  process  was  so  quiet,  so  unobtrusive,  so  gradual,  so  like 
the  growth  of  vegetation  in  spring  time — in  short,  so  natural, 
that  it  seems  to  have  escaped  the  notice  of  many  historians  of 
the  larger  colonial  life.  They  have  dealt  with  questions  of 
church  and  state,  with  patents  and  charters,  Pilgrims  and 
Puritans,  Baptists,  Quakers,  wars,  witches,  colonial  unions 
and  struggles  for  national  independence,  but  the  origin  and 
growth  of  that  smaller  communal  life  within  the  colonics  has 
been  somewhat  neglected.  And  yet  these  little  communes 
were  the  germs  of  our  state  and  national  life.  They  gave  the 
colonies  all  the  strength  which  they  ever  enjoyed.  It  was  the 
towns,  parishes  and  counties  that  furnished  life-blood  for 
church  and  state,  for  school  and  college,  for  war  and  peace. 
In  New  England  especially,  towns  were  the  primordial  cells 
of  the  body  politic.  In  all  the  colonies,  civic  communities 
were  the  organic  tissues,  without  which  the  colonial  body 
would  have  been  but  a  lifeless  mass. 

At  the  opening  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  which  met  in  Boston  August  2fi, 
1880,  Mr.  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  in  his  inaugural  address,  paid 
the  following  tribute  to  the  towns  of  New  England  :  "  Your 
Excellency,  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts, 

5 


6  The  Germanic  Orif/in  of 

without  intending  to  depart  from  the  proprieties  of  the  occa- 
sion, it  may  be  proper  to  say  that  those  of  us  who  come  from 
beyond  the  Hudson  can  but  feel  that  in  entering  New 
England  we  reach  the  birthplace  of  American  institutions. 
To  some  of  us  it  is  the  land  of  our  fathers,  and  we  cannot 
approach  the  precincts  of  their  departed  presence  without  the 
sentiment  of  filial  veneration.  Here  they  laid  broad  and 
deep  the  foundations  of  American  freedom,  without  which 
American  science  would  have  been  an  infant  in  leading-strings 
to-day.  Here  was  developed  the  township,  with  its  local  self- 
government,  the  basis  and  central  element  of  our  political 
system.  Upon  the  township  was  formed  the  county,  composed 
of  several  towns  similarly  organized ;  the  State  composed  of 
several  counties,  and,  finally,  the  United  States,  composed  of 
several  states;  each  organization  a  body  politic,  with  definite 
governing  powers  in  a  subordinate  series.  But  the  greatest 
of  all,  in  intrinsic  importance,  was  the  township,  because  it 
was  and  is  the  unit  of  organization,  and  embodies  the  great 
principle  of  local  self-government.  It  is  at  once  the  greatest 
and  the  most  important  of  American  institutions,  because  it 
determines  the  character  of  the  State  and  National  Govern- 
ment. It  is  also  historically  significant  because  it  shows  that 
American  Democracy  may  justly  claim  to  be  the  daughter  of 
that  Athenian  Democracy  which  generated  and  produced  the 
most  signal  outburst  of  genius  and  intellect  in  the  entire 
history  of  the  human  race.  Nor  is  this  presage  of  the  future 
without  its  own  significance.  What  was  achieved  for  philos- 
ophy and  art  under  the  free  institutions  of  Athens  may  yet  be 
achieved  for  science  in  the  evolution  of  the  same  forces  in 
America."  * 

Mr.  Morgan's  recognition  of  the  historic  significance  of 
New  England  towns,  in  their  relation  to  science  and  national 
growth,  addressed  as  this  recognition  was  to  the  chief  magis- 
trate of  Massachusetts,  recalled  to  mind  the  words  of  Gov- 

*  Report  in  Boston  Journal,  August  26,  1880. 


New  England  Towns.  7 

ernor  Long  himself  in  an  oration  delivered  in  June,  1877,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  founding  of  the  town  of  Hanover,  Massachusetts.  His 
words  give  an  inner  view  of  the  life  and  character  of  New 
England  towns,  a  subject  which  Mr.  Morgan  viewed  chiefly 
in  its  external  relation  to  history  and  science.  "  I  believe  in 
our  towns,"  said  Mr.  Long.  "  I  believe  in  their  decency  and 
simple  ways.  I  believe  in  their  politics,  in  their  form  and 
administration  of  government,  in  their  school  and  church 
influences,  in  their  democratic  society,  in  their  temperance 
organizations,  in  their  neighborly  charities,  in  their  proud 
lineage  and  history,  and  in  the  opportunities  they  offer.  I 
know  that  our  fathers  who  founded  them  and  put  their 
money  and  labor,  and  their  hopes  into  the  institutions 
and  character  of  these  towns,  did  not  mean  they  should 
decay  ;  that  they  should  be  abandoned,  that  any  native  born 
in  them  should  turn  his  back  upon  them,  or  be  prouder  of  a 
home  elsewhere  than  in  them.  Their  worth  is  not  more  in 
the  things  that  are  seen,  than  in  the  things  that  are  not  seen  ; 
not  more  in  the  farm  and  shop  and  academy  and  railroad, 
that  in  the  mellow,  pious,  soft,  refining  influences  of  charac- 
ter which  pervades  them  like  an  atmosphere,  and  exhibits  to 
you  in  humble  cottages  men  and  women  plain  in  manner  and 
dress,  but  of  rare  intelligence  and  refinement ;  men  who  think 
and  read  and  are  scholars  and  gentlemen,  however  humble 
their  occupation  ;  women  who  are  poets  and  sisters  of  charity  ; 
where  else  do  you  find  the  like?"  * 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  eulogies  of  New  England 
towns,  but  difficult  to  voice  more  clearly  their  intrinsic  worth 
and  far-reaching  historic  significance  than  have  the  men  whose 
words  have  been  quoted.  Seen  from  within,  these  New  Eng- 
land towns  and  villages  are  as  full  to-day  of  youthful  fresh- 
ness, quiet  beauty,  and  energetic  life  as  the  denies  of  Grecian 
Attika,  in  the  spring-time  of  the  world  ;    seen   from  without 


Report  in  Old  Colony  Memorial,  Plymouth,  Muss.,  June  21,  is; 


8  The  Germanic  Origin,  of 

as  an  organic^  deeply  rooted,  wide-expanding  growth,  New 
England's  Jocal  institutions  are  like  the  tree  Jgdrasil,  of 
Scandinavian  mythology,  for  the  principle  of  local  self-gov- 
ernment which  they  embody,  takes  hold  upon  all  the  past 
and  upholds  the  future  in  its  spreading  branches. 

The  importance  of  towns  in  the  social  and  political  struc- 
ture of  New  England  has  been  recognized  in  passing  by 
discerning  travelers  like  Lafayette  and  Tocqueville,  and, 
indeed,  by  certain  New  England  publicists  and  historians; 
but  most  of  these  notices  have  been  extremely  cursory  and 
more  or  less  inaccurate.  There  is  also  a  vast  number  of  local 
histories,  but  they  generally  avoid  the  one  important  question, 
the  genesis  of  the  town  as  an  institution.  Most  writers,  espe- 
cially local  historians,  assume  that  New  England  towns  are 
either  the  offspring  of  Puritan  virtue  and  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church,  or  else  that  they  are  the  product  of  this  rocky 
soil,  which  is  supposed  to  produce  free  institutions  spontane- 
ously, as  it  does  the  arbutus  and  the  oak,  or  fair  women  and 
brave  men.  But  the  science  of  Biology  no  longer  favors  the 
theory  of  spontaneous  generation.  -Wherever  organic  life 
occurs  there  must  have  been  some  seed  for  that  life.  History 
should  not  be  content  with  describing  effects  when  it  can 
explain  causes.  It  is  just  as  improbable  that  free  local  insti- 
tutions should  spring  up  without  a  germ  along  American 
shores  as  that  English  wheat  should  have  grown  here  without 
planting.  Town  institutions  were  propagated  in  New  Eng- 
land by  old  English  and  Germanic  ideas,  brought  over  by 
Pilgrims  and  Puritans,  and  as  ready  to  take  root  in  the  free 
soil  of  America  as  would  Egyptian  grain  which  had  been 
drying  in  a  mummy-case  for  thousands  of  years. 

The  town  and  village  life  of  New  England  is  as  truly 
the  reproduction  of  Old  English  types  as  those  again  are 
reproductions  of  the  village  community  system  of  the  ancient 
Germans.  Investigators  into  American  Institutional  History 
will  turn  as  naturally  to  the  mother  country  as  the  historians 
of  England  turn  toward  their  older  home  beyond  the  German 


New  England  Towns.  9 

Ocean.  "For  the  fatherland  of  the  English  race,"  says 
Green  in  his  History  of  the  English  People,  "  we  must  look 
far  away  from  England  itself.  In  the  fifth  century  after  the 
birth  of  Christ  the  one  country  which  we  know  to  have  borne 
the  name  of  Angeln  or  England  lay  within  the  district  which 
is  now  called  Sleswick,a  district  in  the  heart  of  the  peninsula 
that  parts  the  Baltic  from  the  Northern  seas.  Its  pleasant 
pastures,  its  black-timbered  homesteads,  its  prim  little  town- 
ships looking  down  on  inlets  of  purple  water,  were  then  but 
a  wild  waste  of  heather  and  sand,  girt  along  the  coast  with  a 
sunless  woodland,  broken  here  and  there  by  meadows  that 
crept  down  to  the  marshes  and  the  sea.  ...  Of  the  temper 
and  life  of  the  folk  in  this  older  England  we  know  little.  But 
from  the  glimpses  that  we  catch  of  it  when  conquest  had 
brought  them  to  the  shores  of  Britain  their  political  and  social 
organization  must  have  been  that  of  the  German  race  to 
which  they  belonged.  In  their  villages  lay  ready  formed  the 
social  and  political  life  which  is  round  us  in  England  to-day. 
A  belt  of  forest  or  waste  parted  each  from  its  fellow  villages, 
and  within  this  boundary  or  mark  the  '  township,'  as  the 
village  was  then  called  from  the  'tun'  or  rough  fence  and 
trench  *  that  served  as  its  simple  fortification,  formed  a  com- 
plete and  independent  body,  though  linked  by  ties  which 
were  strengthening  every  day  to  the  townships  about  it  and 
the  tribe  of  which  it  formed  a  part.  .  .  . 

"The  woodland  and  pasture-land  of  an  English  village 
were  still  undivided,  and  every  free  villager  had  the  right  of 
turning  into  it  his  cattle  and  swine.  The  meadow-land  lay 
in  like  manner  open  and  undivided  from  hay-harvest  to 
spring.  It  was  only  when  grass  began  to  grow  afresh  that 
the  common  meadow  was  fenced  off  into  grass-fields,  one  for 
each   household  in   the  village;  and   when   hay-harvest   was 


♦According  to  the  laws  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Hay,  the  boun- 
darics  of  Massachusetts  Towns  were  to  be  "  a  greatc  heapc  t>f  stones,  or  a 
trench,  of  six  foote  long  &  two  foote  broade." — Mass.  Col.  Kec,  ii,  210. 


10  Ihe  Germanic  Origin  of 

over  fence  and  division  were  at  an  end  again.  The  plow-land 
alone  was  permanently  allotted  in  equal  shares  both  of  corn- 
land  and  fallow-land,  to  the  families  of  the  freemen,  though 
even  the  plow-land  was  subject  to  fresh  division  as  the  num- 
ber of  claimants  grew  greater  or  less.  .  .  .  The  life,  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  settlement  resided  solely  in  the  body  of  the 
freemen  whose  holdings  lay  round  the  moot-hill  or  the  sacred 
tree  where  the  community  met  from  time  to  time  to  deal  out 
its  own  justice  and  to  make  its  own  laws.  Here  new  settlers 
were  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  the  township,  and  by-laws 
framed  and  headmen  and  tithing-man  chosen  for  its  gover- 
nance. Here  plow-land  and  meadow-land  were  shared  in 
due  lot  among  the  villagers,  and  field  and  homestead  passed 
from  man  to  man  by  the  delivery  of  a  turf*  cut  from  its  soil. 
Here  strife  of  farmer  with  farmer  was  settled  according  to  the 
f  customs '  of  the  township  as  its  elder  men  stated  them,  and 
four  men  were  chosen  to  follow  headman  or  ealdorman  to 
hundred- court  or  war.  It  is  with  reverence  such  as  is  stirred 
by  the  sight  of  the  head-waters  of  some  mighty  river  that  one 
looks  back  to  these  village  moots  of  Friesland  or  Sleswick. 
It  was  here  that  England  learned  to  be  a  '  mother  of  Parlia- 
ments.' It  was  in  these  tiny  knots  of  farmers  that  the  men 
from  whom  Englishmen  were  to  spring  learned  the  worth  of 
public  opinion.  .  .  .  The  *talk;  of  the  village  moot  ...  is 
the  groundwork  of  English  history."'!' 

Thus,  English  historians,  Green,  Freeman  and  Stubbs, 
recognize  their  older  fatherland.  The  origin  of  the  English 
Constitution,  as  Montesquieu  long  ago  declared,  is  found  in 


*  The  custom  of  conveying  land  by  turf  and  twig,  ramo  et  cespite, 
according  to  mediaeval  usage,  was  once  known  in  Salem.  In  1695,  John 
Kuck  granted  a  homestead  to  his  son  Thomas  before  witnesses,  and,  as 
part  of  the  act  of  conveyancing,  took  hold  of  a  twig  in  the  garden,  saying, 
"  Here,  son  Thomas,  I  do,  before  these  two  men,  give  you  possession  of 
this  land  by  turffe  and  twigg."— Felt,  Annals  of  Salem,  i,  187.  Cf.  Lav- 
eleye,  Primitive  Property,  121,  note  3. 

f  Green,  History  of  the  English  People,  vol.  i,  ch.  1. 


New  England  Towns.  11 

the  forests  of  Germany.  If  we  read,  said  this  illustrious 
Frenchman,  who  was  as  fervent  an  admirer  of  England  as 
Tocqueville  was  of  America,  if  we  read  the  admirable  work 
of  Tacitus  concerning  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Teu- 
tons, we  shall  find  that  it  was  from  them  that  the  English 
derived  their  political  system.*  Voltaire  was  accustomed  to 
ridicule  Montesquieu  for  his  Teutonic  predilections,  hut  the 
researches  of  Palgrave,  Kemhle,  Stuhbs  and  Sir  Henry  Maine 
have  established  the  truth  of  this  Germanic  view.  The  tree 
of  English  liberty  certainly  roots  in  German  soil.  Proofs  of 
this  fact  were  first  made  fully  apparent  to  English  historians 
by  the  labors  of  those  patient  German  specialists,  Von  Maurer, 
Hanssen,  Meitzen,  Nasse  and  George  Waitz,  who  have  shown 
in  the  early  Constitutional  History  of  Germany  the  same  or- 
ganizing power  as  Canon  Stubbs  has  exercised  in  writing  the 
Constitutional  History  of  England.  The  amount  of  valuable 
details  which  German  specialists  in  Institutional  History  have 
dug  up  from  the  rich  soil  of  mediaeval  Germany  is  something 
marvellous  to  contemplate.  To  attempt  even  a  resume  in  a 
sketch  of  this  character  would  be  to  attempt  the  impossible. 
But  along  the  lines  of  this  pioneer  work,  through  guiding 
vistas  of  light  now  made  in  the  German  forests  bv  years  of 
German  toil,  the  American  student  may  wander  at  will, 
noting  such  points  as  may  prove  of  suggestive  interest  to  the 
younger  Germany  and  the  newer  England  beyond  the 
Atlantic. 

The  student  has  only  to  cross  the  river  Neckar  from  Hei- 
delberg to  find  himself  in  the  Odenwald,  or  forest  of  Wodan, 
the  most  classic  as  well  as  the  most  primitive  region  in  all 
Germany.  The  student  has  only  to  travel  a  few  hours  south- 
ward from  the  Odenwald  and  the  Bergstrasse  to  reach  the 
heart  of  the  Black  Forest.  In  either  of  these  parts  of  Ger- 
many he  can  discover  surviving  features  of  the  ancient  village 
community  system  as  described  by  Tacitus.      With   the  Ger- 


Montesquieu,  Esprit  dcs  Lois,  Livre  \i,  i-h.  f> 


12  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

mania  for  a  guide-book,  let  us  follow  the  student  through  a 
Teutonic  village.  It  is  very  generally  known,  says  Tacitus, 
that  the  Germans  do  not  live  in  cities,  and  also  that  they 
have  no  fondness  for  joining  their  plantations  together.  They 
settle  apart  in  different  places,  according  as  spring,  or  open 
field,  or  woodland  attracts  their  fancy.  Villages  they  plant, 
not  according  to  our  fashion,  with  closely  connected  or  adjoin- 
ing buildings,  but  every  man  surrounds  his  own  house  with 
a  fence,  either  for  security  against  accident  by  fire,  or  because 
they  are  such  bungling  architects.* 

There  are  two  facts  in  this  statement  by  Tacitus,  which 
deserve  special  attention.  The  first  fact  is,  that  by  the 
expression,  "they  settle  apart  in  different  places,"  colunt 
discreli  ac  diversi,  is  meant  the  individual  farm  or  patriarchal 
hamlet,  what  the  Germans  call  a  Hof;  the  second  fact  is  that 
by  the  expression,  "  villages  they  plant,"  vicos  locant,  is 
meant  the  village  community,  what  the  Germans  call  a  Dorf. 
Tacitus  probably  saw  what  every  stranger  sees  to  this  day  on 
visiting  the  country  villages  of  South  Germany,  namely, 
compact  settlements,  but  with  separate  buildings  and  home 
lots,  exactly  like  those  of  a  New  England  farming  town. 
Straggling  hamlets,  or  isolated  farms,  there  also  must  have 
been  in  the  days  of  Tacitus  as  in  the  days  of  our  Puritan  fore- 
fathers. Doubtless  many  of  these  German  hamlets  grew  into 
villages,  just  as  the  hamlets  or  villages  of  New  England  have 
in  many  cases  grown  into  towns.  The  ending  helm  in  many 
village  names  along  the  Bergstrasse,  like  Dossenheim,  Wein- 
heim,  is  clear  indication  of  the  original  patriarchal  character 
of  such  places.  The  German  heim  is  the  same  as  the  English 
home,  Saxon  ham,  which  appears  in  the  names  of  so  many 
old  English  places  like  Doddingham,  Billingham,  Petersham, 
Hampton)  (or  Hometown),  and  the  like.  The  distinction 
between  the  hamlet  and  the  village  is  perhaps  one  of  degree 
rather  than  one  of  kind.     The  Hof  became  the  Dorf  by  a 

♦Tacitus,  Germania,  cap.  xvi,  (Baumstark's  edition  for  Students,  68.) 


New  England  Towns.  13 

natural  process  of  development.  No  one  can  say  where  the 
hamlet  ends  and  the  village  begins. 

But  let  us  proceed  upon  our  tour  of  observation.  The 
traveler  of  to-day  will  find  in  the  interior  of  the  Odenwald  far 
more  primitive  villages  than  in  the  Black  Forest.  The  latter 
is  now  traversed  by  government  roads  in  every  direction,  and 
even  a  railroad  has  been  constructed  in  these  latter  days,  so 
that  hurrying  travelers  can  behold  the  scenery  from  the  cars! 
Things  are  no  longer  what  they  were  when  Auerbach  wrote 
his  Black  Forest  Tales  for  children.  But  there  is  still  much 
left  to  amuse  and  instruct  the  students  who  tramp  through 
the  Forest  every  Whitsuntide  vacation  (Pfingstcn)  from  Hei- 
delberg, Freiburg  and  other  German  universities.  The  Oden- 
wald is  also  visited,  but  not  so  frequently  because  it  is  more 
difficult  in  that  primitive  region  to  obtain  food  and  drink, 
except  upon  one  or  two  main  routes.  Traversing  either  the 
government  chauss6es  or  the  common  dirt  roads  through  the 
Odenwald  or  Black  Forest,  the  student  may  explore  the 
numerous  valleys  and  forest  villages,  which  are  to  this  day 
skirted  with  evergreen  forests,  dimly  suggesting  to  his  fancy 
the  ambuscades  into  which  the  Roman  legions  fell  when  they 
penetrated  the  Teutoburger  Wald.  In  such  forests  liberty 
was  nurtured.  Here  dwelt  the  people  Rome  never  could 
'conquer.  In  these  wild  retreats  the  ancient  Teutons  met  in 
council  upon  tribal  matters  of  war  and  peace.  Upon  the 
forest  hill-tops  they  worshipped  Wodan,  the  All  Father;  in 
the  forest  valleys  they  talked  over,  in  village-moot,  the  lowly 
affairs  of  husbandry  and  the  management  of  their  common 
fields.  Here  were  planted  the  seeds  of  Parliamentary  or 
Self-Government,  of  Commons  and  Congresses.  Here  lav  the 
germs  of  religious  reformations  and  of  popular  revolutions, 
the  ideas  which  have  formed  Germany  and  Holland,  England 
and  New  England,  the  United  States  in  the  broadest  sense  of 
that  old  Germanic  institution. 

What  now  are  the  external  characteristics  of  one  of  these 
primitive  forest-villages?    Emerging  from  the  wood  or  rocky 


14  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

defile,  the  traveller  comes  suddenly  upon  a  snug  little  settle- 
ment perched  upon  the  sunny  hillside  or  nestling  in  some 
broadening  meadow.  Surrounded  by  forest,  this  settlement 
is  indeed  a  Mark,  or,  as  Americans  would  say,  a  "clearing." 
Basdeke  is  here  better  than  Tacitus,  and  you  will  discover 
that  the  place  is  called  perhaps  Schoenwald,  or  Beautiful 
Forest,  or  possibly  Schoenau,  or  Beautiful  Meadow.  Such 
villages  are  usually  planted  near  a  brook  or  some  constant 
stream,  and  frequently  bear  a  name  like  Rohrbach  or  Lauter- 
bach,  either  of  which  terms  would  signify  the  same  as  Roaring 
Brook,  so  familiar  in  New  England.  An  ancient  part  of 
Salem,  (that  part  which  was  the  home  of  George  Peabody,  the 
philanthropist),  was  once  known  .as  Brooksby.  These  Ger- 
man villages  are  made  up  of  little  houses,  separate  from  one 
another,  but  withal  tolerably  compact,  with  outlying  fields 
divided  into  narrow  strips,  as  shown  by  the  growing  crops. 
Let  us  enter  one  of  these  villages  and  see  how  the  houses  are 
constructed.  The  first  impression  is  that  they  are  rather 
rude  and  bungling.  That  is  exactly  what  Tacitus  thought 
when  he  saw  their  prototypes.  Low-roofed  and  thatched  with 
straw,  which  is  held  down  perhaps  by  stones,  with  wide 
spreading  eaves  and  rude  wooden  frame-work,  filled  in  often- 
times with  rough  stones  plastered  together,  these  huts  alto- 
gether remind  the  modern  traveller  of  Swiss  chalets.  The 
inhabitants  appear  to  live  in  the  upper  part  of  these  one 
storied  buildings,  for  there  is  a  stone  stair-case  outside  leading 
up  to  an  elevated  doorway,  and  underneath  there  is  often  a 
stable  for  cattle,  although  in  some  houses  calves  and  children 
may  be  seen  growing  up  together.  Underneath  the  projecting 
roof  at  the  gable  ends  of  the  houses  are  beehives  of  wicker 
work,  upheld  by  a  beam  or  shelf.  If  a  stranger  enters  one  of 
these  forest  villages  on  a  day  in  June,  he  will  hear  nothing 
but  the  humming  of  the  bees;  for  men,  women  and  children 
are  all  in  the  hay-fields. 

And  this  brings  us.  to  a  consideration  of  that  old  system  of 
co-operative  husbandry  and  common  fields,  which  are  the 


New  England  Towns.  15 

most  peculiar  features  of  a  German  village  community.  In 
the  haying  season,  to  this  day,  in  many  parts  of*  Germany,  the 
villagers  may  be  seen  gathering  the  grass-crop  together.  To 
this  day,  in  some  localities,  the  fallow  and  stubble  lands  are 
used  in  common  by  the  whole  village  for  the  pasturage  of 
cattle  and  the  feeding  of  swine.  Arillage  cow-herds,  swine- 
herds and  goose-herds  are  still  employed  in  many  parts  of 
Germany.  To  this  day  the  arable  land  of  the  Mark  is  tilled 
under  certain  communal  laws.  The  time  of  harvesting  and 
the  time  of  allowing  the  cattle  and  swine  of  the  village  to 
enter  upon  the  stubble  lands  is  still  determined  by  agreement 
among  the  inhabitants.  The  narrow,  un fenced  strips  of  land 
stretching  up  the  hillsides  to  the  forest-border,  bear  striking 
evidence  that  they  were  originally  formed  by  the  allotment 
of  some  ancient  common  field. 

In  the  Contemporary  Review,  July,  1881,  there  is  a  pleasant 
picture  of  village  customs  in  the  Thuringian  forest  by  Pro- 
fessor "W.  Stead  man  Aldis,  in  an  article  entitled,  "Notes  from 
a  German  Vill-age."  The  village  described  is  Gross  Tabarz, 
where  the  Professor  spent  a  summer  vacation  with  his  family. 
"  The  economic  state  of  the  village,  which  is  only  a  type  of 
many  others  in  the  district,  is  decidedly  primitive.  Every 
well-to-do  family  has  its  little  strip  of  ground,  or  sometimes 
several  such  strips  have  been  accumulated  in  one  family  by 
inheritances  or  intermarriages.  The  village  butcher,  with 
whose  family  ours  was  soon  on  tolerably  intimate  terms,  was 
the  owner,  or  at  least  the  cultivator  with  perpetual  rights,  of 
many  little  fields  situated  in  almost  as  many  parishes.  .  .  . 
During  the  spring  and  summer,  while  the  grass  in  the 
meadows  is  allowed  to  grow  for  hay,  or  for  Grummet,  as 
the  second  crop  is  called,  the  cows  and  geese  are  alike  ban- 
ished from  the  private  land,  and  are  taken  under  the  charge 
of  a  Hirt  on  to  the  common  land,  the  borders  of  the  roads, 
or  the  small  bits  of  mountain  meadow  among  the  forests  not 
allotted  by  the  Gemeinde  to  private  owners.  .  .  .  After  the 
second  crop  of  hay  has  been  all  gathered  in,  which  is  supposed 


16  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

to  be  achieved  by  the  beginning  of  September,  and  for  the 
gathering  of  which  the  village  schools  have  a  special  holiday, 
the  meadows  are  open  to  the  cattle  and  geese  of  all  the  inhab- 
itants, and  the  Hirts  have  no  longer  such  an  arduous  task. 
The  pasture  land  becomes  again  for  the  time  the  property  of 
the  Commune,  the  'common  land'  which  it  originally  was, 
and  is  dotted  with  red  oxen  or  snow-white  geese.  During 
the  months  of  July  and  August,  the  whole  population,  male 
and  female,  is  for  the  most  part  occupied  in  getting  in  the 
crops  of  different  kinds,  which  seem  to  form  a  continuous 
series,  beginning  with  the  first  crop  of  hay,  at  the  beginning 
of  July,  and  ending  with  the  Grummet,  or  second  crop,  early 
in  September." 

Let  us  now  glance  at  our  guide-book  and  see  what  Tacitus 
says  concerning  the  customs  of  the  ancient  Germans  in  the 
matter  of  land  holdings.  Lands,  he  says,  are  taken  up  peri- 
odically by  the  whole  body  of  cultivators  in  proportion  to 
their  number.  These  lands  they  afterwards  divide  up  among 
themselves  according  to  their  dignity  or  title.  The  wide  extent 
of  open  space  renders  the  division  of  fields  an  easy  matter. 
The  situation  of  the  plough-lands  they  change  every  year, 
and  there  is  land  enough  left  over.  They  do  not  attempt  to 
improve  by  labor  so  vast  and  fertile  a  tract  of  ground,  for  the 
sake  of  planting  orchards,  laying  out  grass-plots,  and  irriga- 
ting gardens ;  the  only  crop  they  want  is  wheat  or  barley.* 

In  the  custom,  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  of  shifting  the  situa- 
tion of  the  ploughed  lands  every  year,  we  may  perhaps  see  a 
germ  of  the  famous  Three  Field  System,  which  is  of  some 
importance  in  tracing  the  historical  connection  between  the 
agrarian  customs  of  England  and  those  of  ancient  Germany. 
The  system  was  probably  perfected  before  the  Saxon  conquest 
of  Britain,  and  has  survived  in,  both  countries  until  our  own 
times. 


♦On  the  exposition  of  cap.  xxvi  of  Tacitus'  Gerniania,  cf.  Baumstark's 
edition,  Nasse's  Agricultural  Community  of  the  Middle  Ages  (Appendix), 
and  Dr.  Den  man  W.  Koss'  "Studies,"  i,  23;  ii,  12. 


New  England  Towns.  17 

Imagine  a  river  valley,  like  that  of  the  Neckar,  which 
skirts  the  Odenwald,  and  a  little  stream  flowing  down  from 
the  hillside  forest  into  the  river  below.  In  the  Odenwald 
many  villages  are  built  along  the  line  of  such  streams  or 
brooklets,  which  serve  as  a  kind  of  water  main-street  for  the 
villagers  living  along  the  bank.  The  houses  lie  apart,  as 
Tacitus  says  in  his  description  of  a  German  village,  and  every 
villager  has  his  own  houselot  and  enclosure.  The  whole 
village  domain  is  the  Mark,  or  clearing.  It  belonged  orig- 
inally and  belongs  still  to  the  village  community  as  an  organ- 
ized body,  as  a  civic  unit.  Certain  parts,  of  course  the  best, 
were  originally  set  off  for  tillage;  other  parts  remained 
common  for  wood,  pasture,  and  meadow,  Wald,  Weide,  and 
Wiese.  The  Three  Field  System  relates,  however,  not  to  the 
latter  divisions,  but  to  the  arable  land  and  to  that  only. 

The  land  used  for  tillage  was  divided  up  into  three  great 
fields,  first,  second,  and  third.  Each  villager  had  one  or  more 
lots  in  each  great  field,  but  the  peculiarity  of  the  system  lies 
in  the  fact  that  every  villager  was  obliged  to  plant  his  lot  or 
lots  in  each  great  field,  according  as  the  whole  village  should 
determine.  For  example,  if  the  proprietors,  in  village-mote 
assembled,  should  resolve  by  a  majority  to  plant  the  first 
great  field  with  wheat,  an  individual  proprietor  would  have 
no  alternative;  he  must  do  as  his  neighbors  agree.  And  so 
of  the  second  great  field,  which,  perhaps,  the  villagers  would 
vote  to  plant  with  oats  or  barley;  and  likewise  of  the  third 
field,  which  must  lie  fallow  for  one. year.  A  rude  system  of 
rotation  of  crops  was  customary  in  all  Teutonic  farming  com- 
munities. The  fallow  land  of  one  year  was  cultivated  the 
year  succeeding;  and  the  spring  crop  of  one  field  gave  place 
to  a  winter  crop,  or  else  lay  fallow  in  turn.  The  most  inter- 
esting fact  about  this  Three  Field  System  is  that  it  indicates 
a  communal  spirit  even  in  the  management  of  lands  allotted 
and  perhaps  owned  in  severalty;  it  shows  that  the  arable 
land  as  well  as  the  pasture,  meadow,  and  woodland,  was  under 
the  control  of  the  village  community  ami  subject  to  communal 

a 


18  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

decrees.  There  is  reason  to  believe,  from  the  passage  in  Taci- 
tus above  quoted,  that  the  situation  of  the  ploughed  lands 
was  changed  from  time  to  time,  and  that  land  devoted  to 
tillage  was  afterwards  turned  into  pasture  or  grass  land,  and 
other  portions  of  the  village  domain  were  allotted  for  plough- 
ing in  severalty.  The  custom  of  re-distributing  farming 
lands,  after  a  certain  term  of  years,  was  very  general,  not 
only  in  Teutonic,  but  in  all  Aryan  villages.  The  term  varied 
with  different  nations  and  in  different  communities.  Origi- 
nally, with  the  Germans,  a  fresh  distribution  was  probably 
made  every  year,  but  as  the  Three  Field  System  developed, 
the  term  became  longer.  In  Russia,  as  Wallace  has  shown 
in  his  interesting  work,  lands  were  once  re-distributed  every 
thirteen  years.  The  field  meetings  of  Teutonic  farmers  for 
the  distribution  of  lands  and  the  regulation  of  crops  w.ere  the 
germs  of  English  parish  meetings  and  of  New  England  town 
meetings.  The  village  elders,  still  so  called  in  Russia,  although 
young  men  are  frequently  elected  to  the  office,  are  the  proto- 
type of  the  English  Reeve  and  Four,  and  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Town  Constable  and  Board  of  Selectmen. 

In  the  year  1871  was  published,  in  England,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Cobden  club,  a  translation  of  a  little  German 
treatise,  by  Professor  Nasse,*  of  the  University  of  Bonn,  on 
the  agricultural  community  of  the  middle  ages  and  inclosures 
of  the  sixteenth  century  in  England.  It  was  a  work  which 
may  be  called  epoch-making  in  the  history  of  real  property 
and  of  communal  institutions  in  Great  Britain.  It  awakened 
English  lawyers  to  a  consciousness  of  the  survival  in  their 
very  midst  of  a  system  of  local  land  tenure  older  than  the 
Feudal  system  and  dating  back  at  least  to  the  time  of  the 
Saxon  conquest  of  Britain.  Ever  since  the  days  of  Black- 
stone,  lawyers  had  puzzled  themselves  to  account  for  certain 


*  First  mentioned  to  American  readers  by  Professor  William  F.  Allen 
in  The  Nation,  September  22,  1870,  from  a  notice  in  Sybel's  Hisiorische 
Zeitachrift. 


New  England  Toions.  19 

extraordinary  customs  of  village  land  holding  in  England 
for  certain  phenomena  of  joint  ownership  in  commons,  like 
the  lammas  lands,  which  were  common  to  an  entire  village 
for  pasturage,  after  the  13th  of  August,  old  style,  or  like  the 
so-called  "  shack  lands,"  which,  after  the  above  date,  were 
common  to  the  owners  or  possessors,  but  not  to  the  whole 
village.  Lawyers  had  found  no  solution  to  the  problem  of 
the  origin  of  such  communal  practice,  except  in  special  privi- 
leges granted  to  tenants  by  the  lord  of  the  manor,  or  else  iu 
immemorial  custom. 

Professor  Nasse  derived  his  facts  concerning  the  existence 
of  such  communal  land-holdings  in  England,  from  a  report 
of  a  Select  Committee  on  Commons  Inelosure,  instituted  in 
order  to  frame  laws  for  the  dissolution  of  common  holdings, 
by  order  of  the  House  of  Commons,  1844,  and  from  the 
reports  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  about  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century,  under  charge  of  Sir  John  Sinclair.  These 
latter  reports  were  abridged  by  Mr.  Marshall,  a  man  often 
referred  to  by  Sir  Henry  Maine.  It  appears  that  Marshall  at 
this  very  early  period  was  strongly  impressed  by  the  mere 
facts  concerning  the  vast  extent  of  communal  land-holdings 
in  England,  and  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  once  "the 
soil  of  nearly  the  whole  of  England  was  more  or  less  in  a 
commonable  state."* 

The  reports  above  mentioned  revealed  some  most  remarka- 
ble facts  concerning  the  survival  of  communal  land  hold  intra 
in  parishes  where  the  Feudal  system  was  supposed  to  have 
centralised  all  forms  of  folkland,  and  to  have  destroyed  all  free 
peasant  proprietaries.  In  Huntingtonshire,  out  of  2  10,000 
acres,  130,000  were  found  to  be  held  in  common,  that  is,  by 
no  individual  owners  in  particular,  but  by  village  or  fanning 
communities,  under  the  supremacy  of  some  manorial   lord. 


*  Nasse  on  the  Agricultural  Community  of  the  Middle  A^'-  and  Inclo- 
sures  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  in  England.  London:  Maemillan  &  C<>., 
1871. 


20  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

In  Wiltshire,  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  land  was  thus 
held;  in  Berkshire,  one-half  the  county;  in  Warwickshire, 
50,000  acres;  and  in  Oxfordshire,  over  one  hundred  parishes 
held  lands  on  the  communal  system ;  and  in  Northampton- 
shire eighty-nine  parishes  perpetuated  this  ancient  type  of 
village  land  holding.  Nasse  says,  "in  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  England  the  old  English  peasantry  .  .  .  held  the 
land  in  common,  precisely  as  the  present  villagers  of  the 
greater  part  of  middle  Europe  hold  theirs."  * 

There  were  found  to  be  three  sorts  of  commonable  ground. 
I,  arable;  2,  meadow;  and  3,  pasture  land.  The  arable 
land  was  found  very  generally  to  be  subject  to  certain  com- 
munal laws,  in  regard  to  the  rotation  or  harvesting  of  crops. 
The  Three  Field  System,  as  already  described,  was  frequently 
discovered  in  English  parishes,  and  it  was  also  noticed  that 
the  three  great  divisions  of  arable  land  were  often  separated 
from  one  another  by  broad  strips  of  grass  land,  which  were 
kept  common,  in  order  to  eke  out  the  pasture  in  the  fall  of 
the  year  after  the  crops  had  been  gathered  and  the  stubble 
lands  thrown  open  to  the  village  cattle.  The  meadow  lands 
were  either  held  wholly  in  common,  or  by  a  system  of  shifting 
severalties,  whereby  grass-lots  were  assigned  for  the  season  to 
individuals,  and  were  then  again  made  common  for  pas- 
turage and  subject  to  a  fresh  distribution."}*  Community  of 
pasturage  was  found  to  be  of  very  general  occurrence  in 
the  rural  districts  of  England.  There  were  two  sorts, 
stinted  pasturage,  i.  e.,  where  villagers  were  limited  as  to 


*  Nasse,  6,  9,  cf.  extract  from  Marshall,  p.  100:  "Each  parish  and 
township  (at  least  in  the  more  central  and  northern  districts)  comprised 
different  descriptions  of  land,  having  been  subjected  during  successive 
ages  to  specified  modes  of  occupancy  under  ancient  and  strict  regulations, 
which  time  had  converted  into  law.  These  parochial  arrangements, 
however,  varied  somewhat  in  the  different  districts,  but  in  the  more  cen- 
tral, and  greater  part  of  the  kingdom,  not  widely." 

f  This  custom  was  maintained  for  years  in  the  farming  communities 
of  Plymouth  and  Salem,  Massachusetts. 


New  England  Towns.  21 

the  number  of  cattle  tliey  could  pasture  in  the  common 
field,  (for  example,  it  was  often  the  rule  that  no  one  should 
pasture  in  commons  more  stock  than  he  could  keep  through 
the  winter);  and  unstinted  pasturage,  where  there  was  no 
such  limit. 

Such  phenomena  as  these  had  been  frequently  observed  in 
England  and  Scotland.  Sir  Walter  Scott  remarked  such 
agricultural  customs  in  the  Orkney  and  Shetland  islands,  but 
■was  unable  to  explain  them  satisfactorily  to  himself.  It  was, 
as  Sir  Henry  Maine  says,  by  using  Von  Maurer's  results  as  a 
key,  that  Nasse  was  able  to  decipher  the  whole  system.  The 
English  Agricultural  Community,  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which 
survived  the  crushing  weight  of  feudalism  and  has  perpetu- 
ated itself  down  to  our  own  times,  stands  forth  as  the  historic 
survival  of  the  Teutonic  village  with  its  Three  Field  System. 
Under  the  very  heel  of  the  Norman  conqueror,  the  old  com- 
munal spirit  of  the  Saxons  endured.  It  endured  in  the 
townships  and  parishes  of  England.  It  has  endured  upon 
almost  every  Lord's  manor,  where  there  was  almost  invariably 
a  large  tract  of  land  known  as  the  Common  or  Lord's  Waste. 
Upon  this  tract,  landless  tenants  preserved  certain  immemorial 
common  rights,  for  example,  to  wood  and  turf,  to  grass  and 
pasture.  These  rights  were  only  vestiges  of  the  ancient  rights 
of  Saxon  villagers,  but  these  rights  to  commonage  serve  as  a 
connecting  link  between  the  manorial  system  of  Mediaeval 
England  and  the  Village  Community  system  of  Ancient 
Germany.  The  periodical  assignment  of  portions  of  the 
Lord's  Waste  for  cultivation  by  the  peasants  was  in  the  Court 
Leet  (German  Leute,  people)  or  popular  court  of  the  Manor, 
in  which  court  all  minor  matters  relating  to  tenants  were 
adjusted.  In  the  customs  of  the  Court  Leet  and  of  the  old 
English  Parish  meeting,  which  is  but  the  ecclesiastical  out- 
come of  old  Saxon  self-governing  assemblies,  is  to  be  found 
the  prototype  of  New  England  town  meetings. 

Nasse  has  truly  observed  that  "agrarian  relations  have  a 
tendency  to  a  more  lasting  duration   than  other   human  insti- 


22  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

tutions."  *  The  extent  of  Common  Lands  in  England,  which 
have  survived,  not  Only  Feudalism,  but  Parliamentary  Acts 
for  Commons  Enclosure,  is  something  enormous.  The  report 
of  landowners  prepared  by  the  Local  Government  Board  a 
few  years  ago,  shows  that  there  are  still  over  a  million  and 
a  half  acres  of  Common  Land,  f  and  the  report  of  the 
Commons  Preservation  Society  says  that  "five  million  acres 
of  Common  Land  have  been  enclosed  since  Queen  Anne's 
reign."  Much  of  the  land  remaining  unenclosed  is  called 
"Town  Land"  or  "Commons;"  it  consists  of  great  open 
spaces  and  public  fields  or  heaths,  upon  which  villagers  pas- 
ture their  cattle  and  boys  play  ball.  Societies  have  been 
formed  for  the  preservation  of  these  tracts,  especially  when, 
like  Hampstead  Heath,  they  are  in  the  vicinity  of  large  cities. 
Essays  on  the  advantage  of  "  Open  Spaces,"  and  on  the 
"  Future  of  Our  Commons,"  have  appeared  in  the  English 
reviews.  Mr.  Lefevre,  in  a  letter  to  the  Times,  quoted  by 
Octavia  Hill,  says :  "  The  right  of  the  public  to  use  and  enjoy 
Commons,  (which  they  have  for  centuries  exercised),  it  must 
be  admitted,  is  not  distinctly  recognised  by  law,  though  there 
is  a  remarkable  absence  of  adverse  testimony  on  the  subject. 
The  law,  however,  most  fully  recognises  the  right  of  the 
village  to  its  green,  and  allows  the  establishment  of  such  right 
by  evidence  as  to  playing  games,  &c,  but  it  has  failed  as  yet 
to  recognise  the  analogy  between  the  great  town  and  its 
Common,  and  the  village  and  its  green,  however  complete  the 
analogy  may  be.  But  some  of  these  rights  of  Common,  which 
are  now  so  prized  as  a  means  of  keeping  Commons  open,  had, 
if  legal  theory  is  correct,  their  origin  centuries  ago  in  custom. 
For  long  they  had  no  legal  existence,  but  the  courts  of  law  at 
last  learned  to  recognise  custom  as  conferring  rights.  The 
custom  has  altered  in  kind ;  in  lieu  of  cattle,  sheep,  and  pigs 
turned  out  to  pasture  on  the  Commons,  human  beings  have 


*Nassc,  13. 

f  Octavia  Hill,  "Our  Common  Land,"  8. 


New  England  Towns.  23 

taken  their  place,  and  wear  down  the  turf  instead  of  eating 
it." 

We  have  seen  how  the  Saxons  transferred  from  ancient 
Germany  to  the  eastern  part  of  England  the  village  commu- 
nity system  and  agrarian  customs  of  their  forefathers;  let  us 
now  see  how  the  dominant  or  communal  idea  of  these  villages 
and  some  of  these  old  Teutonic  practices  in  the  matter  of 
land-holding,  were  transferred  across  another  and  broader  sea 
than  the  German  ocean,  and  took  root  in  the  eastern  parts  of 
New- England.  States  are  not  founded  upon  shipboard,  though 
the  vessel  be  as  staunch  as  the  Mayflower,  and  constitutions 
cannot  be  framed  upon  paper,  though  it  be  the  Pilgrims' 
compact. 

A  band  of  Saxon  pirates  tossing  upon  the  waves  of  the 
North  Sea  and  preparing  to  descend  upon  the  coasts  of  Britain 
could  not  constitute  a  State,  in  passage,  however  excel  hut 
their  discipline,  however  faithful  their  allegiance  to  the 
authority  of  Hengist  and  Horsa.  But  those  Saxon  pi  rates 
bore  with  them  a  knowledge  of  self-government,  which,  when 
rooted  in  the  soil  of  Britain,  grew  into  Saxon  England  and 
the  law  of  the  land.  Magna  Carta  and  the  Bill  of  Bights 
are  only  the  development  of  those  germs  of  liberty  first  planted 
in  the  communal  customs  of  our  Saxon  forefathers.  The 
Constitution  of  England  is  not  written  at  all;  it  is  simply  a 
rich  but  sturdy  growth  of  popular  institutions,  derived  orig- 
inally from  the  forests  of  Germany,  and  transplanted  across 
the  sea.  What  is  thus  maintained  and  acknowledged  con- 
cerning our  Saxon  forefathers,  may  likewise  be  urged  con- 
cerning the  Pilgrim  fathers.  They  were  merely  one  branch 
of  the  great  Teutonic  race,  a  single  offshoot  from  the  tree  of 
liberty  which  takes  deep  hold  upon  all  the  past.  This  offshoot 
was  transplanted  to  Plymouth,  and  it  grew  up,  not  like  Leb- 
anon, filling  the  whole  earth,  but,  to  all  appearances,  like  the 
first  Saxon  settlements  of*  England  and  like  other  tortus  of 
local  self-government,  budding,  spreading,  and  propagating 
after  its  kind. 


24  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

The  importance  of  the  territorial  factor  in  the  constitution 
of  Plymouth  Colony  has  never  been  sufficiently  emphasized. 
The  personal  factor,  i.  e.,  the  character,  the  virtues,  and  the 
religious  zeal  of  the  Pilgrims  do  not  need  to  be  further 
extolled.  Americans  are  in  no  danger  of  forgetting  the  faith 
and  heroism  of  those  men  and  women  who  made  their  flight 
in  winter  across  a  barren  sea  to  preserve  the  rights  of  con- 
science, the  rights  of  Englishmen,  and  good  old  English  ways, 
but  Americans,  in  their  enthusiasm  for  men,  have  failed  to 
notice  certain  important  and  fundamental  things  in  the  origin 
of  Plymouth.  Underneath  all  the  phenomena  of  Pilgrim 
zeal  and  suffering,  more  enduring  than  the  Pilgrims'  noble 
compact,  unnoticed  like  the  upholding  power  of  earth,  lies  the 
primordial  fact  of  the  local  settlement  of  the  Pilgrims  in  a 
form  of  civic  community  older  than  Saxon  England,  older 
than  the  primitive  church,  and  older  than  the  classic  states  of 
antiquity.  That  form  of  civil  community  was  based  upon 
land. 

The  elements  of  permanence  and  continuity  in  all  civil 
society  are  based  upon  the  soil  and  the  material  interests 
connected  with  it.  Generations  of  men  are  born  and  pass 
away,  but  an  abiding  relation  to  some  fixed  territory  keeps 
civil  society  together  and  constitutes  a  state  in  the  true  sense 
of  that  term.  Government  may  exist  upon  shipboard  or 
among  wandering  tribes  of  Indians,  but  no  state  or  body 
politic  can  possibly  endure  unless  it  be  grounded  upon  terri- 
torial interests  of  a  stable  and  lasting  character.  No  state 
without  a  people,  and  no  state  without  land.  These  are  the 
axioms  of  political  science. 

Let  us  now  inquire  into  the  exact  nature  of  the  common- 
wealth which  the  Pilgrims  actually  founded.  Mourt's  rela- 
tion, (so  called  from  George  Morton,  who  published  it  in 
England  in  1622),  a  journal  of  the  beginnings  and  proceed- 
ings of  the  English  plantation  settled  at  Plymouth  in  New 
England,  a  journal  written,  says  Mr.  Dexter,  from  day  to  day 
on  the  ground,  gives  us  the  best  contemporary  account  of  the 


New  England  Towns.  25 

mode  in  which  the  first  village  republic  in  New  England  was 
planted.  None  of  the  so-called  colony  records  go  back  to  the 
foundation  of  the  colony  itself.  But  Mourt  tells  the  whole 
story  from  the  first  landing,  down  to  the  town  meeting  of 
April  2,  1621,  when  Mr.  John  Carver  was  re-elected  governor, 
being  a  man  well  approved. 

"After  our  landing  and  viewing  of  the  places  as  well  as  we 
could,  we  came  to  a  conclusion,  [December  30]  by  most 
voyces,  to  set  on  the  maine  Land,  in  the  first  place  on  a  high 
ground  where  there  is  a  great  deale  of  Land  cleared  and  hath 
beene  planted  with  Corne  three  or  four  years  agoe,  and  there 
is  a  very  sweet  brooke  runnes  vnder  the  hillside  and  many 
delicate  springs  of  as  good  water  as  can  be  drunlce,  .  .  . 
Thursday,  the  28.  of  December,  [January  7,  N.  S.]  so  many 
as  could  went  to  worke  on  the  hill  where  we  purposed  to 
build  our  platforme  for  our  Ordinance,  and  which  doth  com- 
mand all  the  plaine  and  the  Bay,  and  from  whence  we  may 
see  farre  into  the  sea,  and  might  be  easier  impayled,  having 
two  rowes  of  houses  and  a  faire  street.  So  in  the  afternoon  we 
went  to  measure  out  the  grounds,  and  first,  we  tooke  notice 
how  many  Families  they  were,  willing  all  single  men  that 
had  no  wiues  to  ioyne  with  some  Fa  mi  lie,  as  they  thought 
fit,  that  so  we  might  build  fewer  houses,  which  was  done,  and 
we  reduced  them  to  19.  Families;  to  greater  Families  we 
allotted  larger  plots,  to  euery  person  halfe  a  pole  in  breadth, 
and  three  in  length,  and  so  Lots  were  cast  where  euery  man 
should  lie,  which  was  done,  and  staked  out." — [Mourt's  Rela- 
tion, edited  by  H.  M.  Dexter,  64,  67,  68.] 

On  this  tract  of  cleared  land,  or  the  village  Mark,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  "  very  sweet  brooke,"  which,  like  the  springs 
spoken  of  by  Tacitus,  still  attracted  Teutonic  fancy,  and  which 
is  known  to  this  day  as  the  Town  Brook,  arose  the  first  town 
or  village  community  in  New  England.  The  first  work  was 
the  construction  of  the  so-called  Common  House,  "about 
twenty  foot  square,"  says  Bradford,  "for  their  common  use, 
to  receive  them  and  their  goods."  The  land  was  taken  pos- 
4 


26  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

session  of  as  a  communal  domain,  and  the  first  labor  bestowed 
upon  it  was  communal  labor.  But  the  Pilgrims,  like  the 
ancient  Teutons,  knew  well  that  a  principle  of  individuality 
must  enter  into  the  development  of  communal  life.  Like  the 
Teutons,  the  Pilgrims  regarded  the  family  as  the  unit  of  social 
order,  and  gave  scope  for  family  interests  in  the  division  of 
house-lots  and  in  the  construction  of  private  dwellings.  Like 
the  Teutons  again,  the  Pilgrims  took  up  land  in  proportion 
to  their  number  and  immediate  wants.  Speaking  of  the  size 
of  the  family  allotments,  the  Journal  says,  "  we  thought  this 
proportion  was  large  enough  at  the  first,  for  houses  and 
gardens,  to  impale  them  around,  considering  the  weaknes  of 
our  people,"  etc.  Here,  too,  by  a  curious  chance,  an  old 
Teutonic  idea  appears  in  the  notion  of  fencing  and  impaling. 
The  radical  idea  of  a  town  (from  Tun,  Zun,  modern  German 
Zaun,  a  hedge)  is  that  of  a  place  hedged-in,  for  the  sake  of 
protection. 

"Tuesday  the  9.  January,"  [19th  N.  S.]  continues  the 
Journal,  "  was  a  reasonable  faire  day,  and  wee  went  to  labour 
that  day  in  the  building  of  our  towne,  in  two  rowes  of  houses 
for  more  safety:  we  divided  by  lott  the  plot  of  ground 
whereon  to  build  our  Towne." 

Professor  Parker,  in  his  paper  read  before  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society  on  "  The  Origin,  Organization,  and 
Influence  of  the  Towns  of  New  England,"*  was  condemning 
original  sources  when  he  criticised  Mr.  Baylies  for  using  the 
word  "Town"  in  his  Historical  Memoirs  of  New  Plymouth 
as  descriptive  of  the  Plantation  made  in  1620.  Baylies  only 
paraphrased  the  quotation  above  made  when  he  said  the 
emigrants  found  "  a  high  hill  which  could  be  fortified  in  a 
manner  so  as  to  command  the  surrounding  country,"  and 
resolved  "  to  lay  out  a  town." 

Palfrey,  in  his  history  of  New  England,  says  "  the  name 
town  first  occurs  in  the  record  of  the  second  colonial  meeting 

♦Proceedings  of  the  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Jan.,  1866. 


New  England  Toicns.  27 

of  the  Court  of  Assistants,  in  connection  with  the  naming  (in 
1630)  of  Boston,  Charlestown,  and  VVatertown."  *  This  state- 
ment may  have  been  intended  to  apply  solely  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts colony,  but  inasmuch  as  the  author  is  calling  attention 
to  the  "early  origin"  of  New  England  Towns,  it  is  but  fair 
to  note  that  the  name  "Town"  occurs  ten  years  earlier  than 
1G30,  and  that  in  the  first  records  of  Plymouth.  And  the 
word  is  frequently  used  in  Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  and  in  Plymouth  Colony  Records  in  such  a  clear 
sense  that  no  one  can  possibly  doubt  but  that  Plymouth  vil- 
lage communities  had  not  only  the  name  of  "Town"  but  the 
actual  thing,  yes,  the  old  Scandinavian  'Thing,  the  Saxon  Tun 
Gemot,  in  their  frequent  Town  Meetings.  "There  already — 
ay,  in  the  Mayflower's  cabin,  before  they  set  foot  on  shore," 
said  Rufus  Choate,  "was  representative  government.  .  .  . 
there  already  was  the  legalized  and  organized  toicn,  that  sem- 
inary and  central  point,  and  exemplification  of  elementary 
democracy.  .  .  .  There  was  reverence  of  law,"f  and  upon 
this  ancient  Saxon  basis,  the  Devonian  rock  of  England,  were 
founded  the  institutions  of  a  new  world.  J 

The  original  idea  of  New  England  Towns,  like  that  of 
their  Old  English  and  Germanic  prototypes,  was  that  of  a 
village  community  of  allied  families,  settled  in  close  proximity 


*  Palfrey,  History  of  New  England,  i.  380. 

f  Life  and  Writings  of  Rufus  Choate,  i.  285. 

Jin  a  monograph  upon  Plymouth  Plantations  will  he  shown  the  influ- 
ence of  English  precedent  upon  Plymouth  law  and  institutions.  The 
ecclesiastical  theory  that  "The  Town  corporation  is  the  offspring  of 
Puritan  Congregationalism,"  asserted  strangely  enough  in  reference  to 
Plymouth  Colony  (which  was  not  Puritan  but  Separatist)  by  Dr.  Joseph 
S.  Clark,  in  his  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Congregational  Churches  of 
Massachusetts,  (p.  56),  is  entirely  untenable,  and  so  likewise  is  the  theory 
of  Professor  Parker,  Frothingham  and  other  writers,  that  the  Town 
system  is  peculiarly  the  product  of  New  England  and  not  based  upon 
precedent.  There  is  scarcely  a  feature  of  New  England  Town  Life  which 
has  not  its  prototype  in  the  municipal  history  of  the  mother  country. 
Studies  illustrating  this  view  have  been  made  of  the  leading  Town  Insti- 
tutions of  Massachusetts. 


28  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

for  good  neighborhood  and  defense,  with  homes  and  home  lots 
fenced  in  and  owned  in  severalty,  but  with  a  common  Town 
Street  and  a  Village  Green  or  Home  Pasture,  and  with  common 
fields,  allotted  outside  the  Town  for  individual  mowing  and 
tillage  but  fenced  in  common,  together  with  a  vast  surround- 
ing tract  of  absolutely  common  and  undivided  land,  used  for 
pasture  and  woodland  under  communal  regulations.  It  is 
important  to  observe  that,  historically  speaking,  the  word 
"Town"  applies  more  particularly  to  the  village  itself,  and 
that  the  word  "Township,"  which  is  of  very  common  occur- 
rence in  the  early  local  annals  of  New  England,  better  char- 
acterizes the  Town's  landed  domain.  It  is  true  that  the 
latter  term  has  fallen  into  disuse  in  New  England,  and  for- 
tunately so,  for  with  the  definite  legal  idea  now  attached  to 
this  word  Township  in  the  Western  States,  as  a  tract  of  land 
six  miles  square,  the  term  no  longer  characterizes  our  Towns, 
which  are  far  from  being  of  any  definite  size  or  of  any  regular 
pattern.  The  word  "Town"  is  now  almost  universally 
employed  in  New  England  to  characterize  the  whole  extent 
of  the  Town's  domain,  and  properly,  for  almost  everywhere 
population  has  swarmed  from  its  old  village-hive,  and  houses 
are  now  built  from  one  end  of  the  Town  to  the  other.  But 
it  is  curious  to  see  how  popular  usage  still  clings  to  the  old 
idea,  when,  for  example,  persons  living  at  the  "  ends  of  the 
Town,"  talk  about  going  "  into  Town,"  "  into  the  village," 
or  to  the  "centre."  The  idea  of  a  Town  is  like  that  of  the 
Greek  tiozv  in  distinction  from  the  tzoXcz;  or  the  Latin  urbs 
in  distinction  from  civitas.  This  historical  view  is  borne  out 
by  the  definition  of  a  "  Town  "  given  by  President  Dwight 
in  his  famous  Travels  in  New  England  and  New  York,  begun 
at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  when  he  wrote,  "You  must 
remember  that  by  a  Town  I  all  along  intend  a  collection  of 
houses  in  the  original  village,  and  not  those  of  the  township." 
Let  us  turn  now  to  an  early  description  of  the  Town  of 
Plymouth,  written  by  Isaack  de  Rasieres,  a  French  Protest- 
ant in   the  service  of  the  Dutch   West  India  Company  as 


New  England  Towns.  29 

Chief  Commissary  of  New  Netherlands  (New  York),  who 
visited  Plymouth  in  1627  upon  an  embassy,  and  whom  Gov- 
ernor Bradford  called  "a  man  of  fair  and  genteel  behavior." 
De  Rasieres  wrote  concerning  New  Plymouth  an  interesting 
letter,  which  was  discovered  some  years  ago  in  the  archives 
at  the  Hague*  by  John  Romeyn  Brodhead,  Secretary  of  the 
American  Legation  at  London.  The  letter  was  first  printed 
in  the  Collections  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  The 
following  is  a  brief  extract: 

"New  Plymouth  lies  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  stretching  east 
towards  the  sea-coast,  with  a  broad  street  about  a  cannon  shot 
of  eight  hundred  [yards]  long,  leading  down  the  hill,  with  a 
[street]  crossing  in  the  middle,  northwards  to  the  rivulet, 
and  southwards  to  the  land.  The  houses  are  constructed  of 
hewn  planks,  with  gardens  also  enclosed  behind  and  at  the 
sides  with  hewn  planks,  so  that  their  houses  and  court-yards 
are  arranged  in  very  good  order,  with  a  stockade  against 
sudden  attack  ;  and  at  the  ends  of  the  streets  there  are  three 
wooden  gates."  f 

Town  gates  and  stockades  were  very  common  in  early  New 
England  villages,  where  they  served  not  only  for  defence, 
but  for  agrarian  and  pastoral  purposes.  Upon  the  frontier, 
for  example  in  the  Connecticut  valley,  palisaded  Towns  were 
at  one  time  a  military  necessity.  The  original  idea  of  a  Town 
reappears  in  the  local  records  of  Northampton,  Hatfield, 
Deerfield,  and  Greenfield;  for  example,  John  Dickinson  of 
Hatfield  was  allowed,  by  vote  March  6,  1690,  "  liberty  to 
remove  his  house  into  town  "  and  retain  his  lot  outside  pro- 
vided he  do  his  share  of  fortifying  and  build  again  upon  his 
lot  when  he  could  do  so  without  fear  of  the  Indians.  "  Kor 
many  several  years,"  says  Judd  in  his  manuscript  collections 


*  The  use  of  the  article  in  the  name  of  this  Town,  the  Hague,  (Ji-rman 
der  Haag,  French  la  Haye,  is  extremely  interesting  as  an  historical  sur- 
vival. Here  is  a  developed  Teutonic  village  called  to  this  day  The  lh  >,■ , 
just  as  the  English  word  Town  perpetuates  the  idea  of  the  Saxon  Tun. 

f  Collections  of  the  JS'cw  York  Historical  Society,  New  Serir-,  vol.  ii. 


30  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

on  Hatfield,  "  the  inhabitants  were  cooped  up  within  these 
limits.  Many  had  huts  or  houses  in  the  street."*  In 
Greenfield  it  was  voted  on  September  10,  1754  "to  picquet 
three  houses  in  this  district  immediately."  Individual  houses 
were  frequently  thus  impaled,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that 
the  use  of  picket  fences  to  this  day  for  separate  inclosures  in 
the  rural  districts  may  be  a  remote  survival  of  that  old  Saxon 

*Judd,  MS.,  Hadley  and  Hatfield,  i,  148.  The  late  Sylvester  Judd, 
author  of  the  History  of  Hadley,  one  of  the  best  local  histories  ever 
"written  in  New  England,  left  behind  him  an  extensive  manuscript  col- 
lection, in  many  bound  volumes,  of  materials  relating  to  the  history  of 
the  Connecticut  Valley,  particularly  of  Northampton  and  of  the  towns 
in  that  environment.  It  is  unfortunate  for  this  latter  Town,  one  of  the 
richest  and  rarest  in  New  England  for  historical  interest,  that  so  capable 
a  man  as  Mr.  Judd  was  never  in  position,  by  reason  of  his  pressing 
duties  as  editor  of  a  country  paper,  to  write  a  history  of  the  valley.  But 
his  manuscript  treasures  have  now  been  purchased  by  public-spirited 
citizens,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  collection,  which  is  really  the 
corner-stone  of  Northampton  history,  may  be  the  first  acquisition  of  the 
Forbes  Library,  that  recent  munificent  endowment  of  over  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  by  a  late  citizen  of  the  Town  for  a  free  public 
library  composed  "of  works  of  science  and  the  arts,  in  their  broadest 
acceptation,  of  ancient  and  modern  history,  and  of  the  literatures  of  our 
own  and  other  nations."  (Extract  from  the  Will  of  Judge  Forbes).  The 
Forbes  Library,  the  Clark  Institute,  Smith  College  and  the  Smith  Chari- 
ties are  noble  institutions,  and  yet  they  sprang,  historically,  from  seed 
sown  by  those  simple  agrarian  communities,  Northampton  and  Hatfield, 
which  are  worthy  of  more  than  passing  attention.  The  Town  Records 
of  Northampton,  are  of  remarkable  interest  and  full  of  cases  of  "sur- 
vival." Secluded  from  association  with  the  Bay  Towns  as  were  these 
inland  communities  of  the  Connecticut  Valley,  some  of  them  like  Wind- 
sor, Springfield  and  the  Towns  above,  are  really  more  interesting  than 
many  that  lie  further  to  the  eastward.  These  Valley  Towns  are  not  only 
quite  as  ancient  as  the  average  of  seventeenth  century  Towns,  but  on  the 
whole  rather  more  conservative,  less  influenced  even  by  Puritan  innova- 
tions. 

To  the  courtesy  of  the  Judd  family  and  of  Mr.  J.  R.  Trumbull,  the 
writer  of  this  monograph  has  been  indebted  for  the  use  of  the  Judd 
manuscripts  at  various  intervals  and  for  various  purposes  ;  also  to  Mr. 
Billings,  Register  of  Deeds  in  the  County  of  Hampshire,  for  access  to 
early  records  of  the  county  court  and  for  copious  extracts  from  the  Town 
Records  of  Hatfield. 


New  England  Towns.  31 

instinct  for  palisading  every  individual  home  and  house-lot, 
as  we  have  already  seen  in  trie  case  of  Plymouth. 

An  interesting  commentary  on  the  relation  of  the  indi- 
vidual home  and  hamlet  to  the  Town  or  village  community 
similarly  enclosed,  is  given  in  Nasse's  Agricultural  Commu- 
nity in  the  Middle  Ages  (15),  where  he  says,  "  The  names  of 
places  shows  that,  among  the  Saxons,  only  the  dwelling- 
place —  that  is,  house  and  homestead  —  was  inclosed;  the 
arable  land  and  the  pastures  being  open  and  unfenced.  Out 
of  1,200  names  of  places  which  Leo  collected  from  the  first 
volume  of  Kemble's  'Codex  Diplomat.  iEvi  Saxonici,'  187 
were  formed  with  tun.  This  word,  it  is  well  known,  is  iden- 
tical with  the  modern  'town/  the  Dutch  tuin  (garden),  and 
the  German  zaun,  and  was,  as  R.  Schmid  remarks,  less  used 
by  the  Anglo-Saxons  to  signify 'that  wherewith  a  space  is 
inclosed,  than  the  inclosed  space  itself.'  We  may,  however, 
see  very  plainly  that  it  was  principally  house  and  homestead 
which  bore  this  name;  for  instance,  in  the  laws  of  Alfred  I. 
§  2,  in  cyninges  tune;  §  13,  on  eorles  tune.  Even  at  the 
present  day  the  courtyard  in  the  country  in  England  is  signi- 
fied by  the  word  town.  Apparently,  as  was  also  the  ease  in 
Germany,  not  only  the  individual  homesteads,  but  also  sev- 
eral situated  near  each  other,  were  surrounded  by  an  inelo- 
sure;  which  explains  the  reason  why  not  only  the  homestead, 
but  also  the  whole  village  was  called  '  tun.'  In  many  places — 
for  example  in  the  laws  of  Athelstan  II.  Fr.  §  2,  where  an 
expiatory  fine  is  to  be  divided  among  the  poor;  as  well  as  in 
Edgar  IV.  c.  8 — the  word  'tun'  cannot  be  intended  to  be 
used  for  individual  homesteads,  but  only  for  places,  a  signifi- 
cation which  later  became  the  ruling  one."  Nasse,  in  a  foot- 
note, 3,  page  16,  says,  "the  old  Jute  law  prescribes  (from 
1240  A.  D.)  iii,  chap.  57,  van  thunen  tho  makende  (on  making 
hedges)  'that  every  village  shall  be  inclosed  by  a  hedge,' 
and  gives  detailed  rules  for  the  duty  of  every  villager  to  put 
up  his  part  of  the  common  fence  which  enclosed  the  whole 
village  as  well  as  single  farmsteads." 


32  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

■  A  chapter  might  be  written  upon  the  survival  in  New 
England  of  this  ancient  institution  known  as  the  "Common 
Fence."  The  local  records  of  every  old  New  England  Town 
are  full  of  such  references.  Take  the  following  from  the  MS. 
Records  of  Hatfield  Side,  January  14,  1660:  "Agreed  and 
voted  at  a  side  meeting  [another  case  of  Old  English  survival !] 
that  there  shall  he  a  common  fence  made  from  Goodman 
Fellows  to  the  landing  place,  every  man  fencing  the  end  of 
his  lot,  and  Isaac  Graves  to  fence  his  part  next  to  Goodman 
Bool's  meadow  lot,  the  rest  to  be  done  in  common."  May 
11,  1663,  "Agreed  at  a  side  meeting  that  every  man  shall  set 
down  a  stake  with  the  two  first  letters  of  his  name  by  every 
parcel  of  fence  by  the  13th  of  this  month."  It  would  be 
difficult  to  say  which  is  the  more  curious,  the  survival  of  "  old 
Jute  law,"  or  this  revival  of  old  English  usage.  It  has  taken 
some  time  for  hedgerows  to  find  root  again  in  New  England, 
but  Hay  wards,  (not  from  hay,  but  from  the  Saxon  Hege, 
wardens  of  the  hedges,)  Fence  Viewers  and  Field  Drivers, 
were  offices  that  our  ancestors  had  probably  filled  in  the  old 
country,  and  they  revived  them  here  at  once.  Hatfield  Side 
voted,  May  7,  1662,  "that  the  South  Meadow  should  be 
cleared  of  cattle  and  Horses  by  Friday  next,  any  cattle  with- 
out Keeper,  or  with  keeper  on  mowing  ground  shall  pay  1 
shilling  each  to  him  that  brings  them  to  the  pound  and  4 
pence  to  the  Pound  Keeper."  The  Village  Pound,  which 
Sir  Henry  Maine  *  says  is  probably  older  than  the  Kingdom, 
was  instituted  at  Hatfield  before  the  Church,  before  the  Town 
itself,  when  Hatfield  was  not  yet  a  Parish  of  Hadley.  This 
simple  enclosure,  the  Cattle  Tun,  represents  a  communal  idea 
which  was  growing  in  that  little  hamlet  on  the  west  side  of 
the   Connecticut   river.       Already    while   only   the   Pound, 


*  Maine,  Early  History  of  Institutions,  263.  He  says,  u  there  is  no 
more  ancient  institution  in  the  country  than  the  Village  Pound ;  it  is 
older  than  the  King's  Bench  and  probably  older  than  the  kingdom." 
The  name  "  Pound  "  is  derived  from  the  Saxon  pyndan,  to  pen  or  enclose. 


New  England  Towns.  33 

Common  Meadows  and  Fences  occupied  the  village  mind  it 
was  voted  "at  side  meeting  that  when  there  is  a  meeting 
legally  warned,  whoever  shall  not  come  shall  forieit  1  shil- 
ling, whoever  shall  come  a  half  hour  late,  6  pence,  whoever 
shall  depart  before  the  close,  6  pence."  Verily  here  was  a 
budding  Tun  within  a  Town. 

The  most  striking  indication  of  historic  connection  between 
the  village  communities  of  New  England  and  those  of  the 
Old  World  lies  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  particularly 
in  its  agrarian  laws. 

Plymouth  was  not  settled  upon  the  principle  of  squatter 
sovereignty — every  man  for  himself,  but  upon  communal 
principles  of  the  strictest  character.  These  were  not  adopted 
simply  because  of  the  co-partnership  of  the  Pilgrims  with 
London  merchants  or  chiefly  through  the  influence  of  a  spirit 
of  Christian  communism,  though  doubtless  both  of  these 
motives  had  considerable  weight  in  the  early  management  of 
the  colony.  There  are  features  of  communal  administration 
in  the  matter  of  landed  property  too  peculiar  and  too  closely 
resembling  those  elsewhere  considered,  in  the  case  of  the 
historical  village  community,  to  permit  of  any  other  satisfac- 
tory explanation  than  that  of  inherited  Saxon  customs.  Land 
community  was  maintained  too  long  at  Plymouth  and  in  the 
towns  which  were  planted  around  Plymouth  on  the  same 
communal  principles,  to  be  accounted  for  on  any  theory  of  a 
temporary  partnership  of  seven  years  or  on  religious  grounds. 

Vestiges  of  the  old  Germanic  system  of  common  fields  are 
to  be  found  in  almost  every  ancient  town  in  New  England. 
In  the  town  of  Plymouth  there  are  to  this  day  some  two 
hundred  acres  of  Commons  known  as  Town  Lands.  This  tract 
is  largely  forest,  where  villagers  sometimes  help  themselves 
to  fuel  in  good  old  Teutonic  fashion.  Jn  studying  the  terri- 
torial history  of  the  Plymouth  plantation,  I  have  gathered 
many  interesting  materials  concerning  the  perpetuation  of 
land  community  in  that  region.  It  is  impossible  in  this  con- 
nection to  enter  into  details.  One  or  two  concrete  facts  like 
5 


34  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

the  following  will  illustrate  the  survival  of  land  community 
in  the  region  of  Plymouth  colony. 

In  the  old  town  of  Sandwich,  upon  Cape  Cod,  at  the 
point  where  the  ship  canal  was  projected  in  1880,  there  is  a 
little  parcel  of  land  of  130  acres  known  as  the  Town  Neck. 
This  is  owned  by  a  company  of  twenty-four  proprietors,  the 
descendants  or  heirs  of  the  first  settlers  of  the  town,  and  this 
tract  is  managed  to  this  day  as  a  common  field.  Originally  the 
Town  Neck,  with  other  common  lands,  belonged  to  the  whole 
town.  In  the  MS.  Town  Records  of  Sandwich  I  find,  under 
the  date  May  22,  1658,  this  vote:  "If  any  inhabytant  want- 
eth  land  to  plant,  hee  may  have  some  in  the  Towne  Neck,  or 
in  the  Common  for  six  yeare  and  noe  longer."  Later  in  1678, 
April  6,  townsmen  are  given  liberty  to  improve  Neck  Lands 
"  noe  longer  than  ten  yeares,  .  .  .  and  then  to  be  at  the 
townsmen's  ordering  againe."  In  the  year  1695,  the  use  of 
the  Town  Neck  was  restricted  to  the  heirs  of  original  proprie- 
tors, and  the  land  was  staked  out  into  thirty-eight  lots.  The 
lots  were  not  fenced  off,  and  the  whole  tract  continued  to  lie 
as  a  common  field,  under  the  authority  of  the  entire  body  of 
proprietors,  like  the  arable  lands  of  a  German  village  com- 
munity. In  1696,  April  4,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Town 
Neck  should  be  improved  for  the  future  by  planting  and 
sowing  as  a  common  field,  until  the  major  part  of  those  inter- 
ested should  see  cause  otherwise  to  dispose  or  improve  the 
same.  The  common  fence  was  to  be  made  up  and  a  gate  to 
be  provided  by  the  1st  of  May.  A  field-driver  or  hayward 
was  to  keep  the  Town  Neck  clear  of  creatures  and  to  impound 
for  trespass.  In  1700  it  was  voted  that  the  Neck  be  cleared 
of  creatures  by  the  16th  of  April,  and  that  no  part  of  the  land 
be  improved  for  tillage  other  than  by  sowing. 

And  thus  from  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century 
down  to  the  present  day  have  the  proprietors  of  Sandwich 
Town  Neck  regulated  the  use  of  this  old  common  field. 
Every  year  they  have  met  together  in  the  springtime  to  deter- 
mine when  the  fences  should  be  set  up  and  how  the  pasture 


New  England  Towns.  35 

should  be  stinted.     The  old  Commoners'  Records  arc  for  the 
most  part  still  in  existence  as  far  back  as  the  year  1093,  and 
before  this  time  the  Town  Records  are  full  of  agrarian  legis- 
lation,  for  the  Town  Neck  was  then  virtually  town  property. 
There  arose  in  Sandwich  and  in  every  New  England  village 
community  the  same  strife   between  old  residents  and  new 
comers  as  that  between  the  patricians  and  plebeians  of  ancient 
Rome;  the  old  settlers  claimed  a  monopoly  of  the  public  land 
and  the  new  comers  demanded  a  share.     In  most  old  New 
England  towns,  the  heirs  of  original  settlers  or  of  citizens 
living  in  the  community  at  a  specified  date  retained  a  mon- 
opoly of  the  common  lands  for  many  years  until  finally  com- 
pelled by. force  or  public  opinion  to  cede  their  claims  to  the 
town.     Jn  Sandwich,  however,  a  vestige  of  the  old  system 
has  survived  to  this  day.     Every  spring,  for  many  years,  has 
appeared  a  public  notice  (I  last  saw  one  in  the  Seaside  LJress, 
May  8,  1880)  calling  together  the  proprietors  of  the  Town 
Neck  at  some  store  in  the  village,  to  choose  a  moderator  and 
a  clerk,  and  to  regulate  the  letting  of  cow  rights  for  the  ensu- 
ing year.     I  came  on  the  track  of  this  curious  old  common 
field   one  summer   vacation   in   Provincetown,  at  the  land's 
end   of  Cape  Cod,  where  also  and  at  Truro  I  found  some 
interesting  bits  of  fossil  land  tenure.     I  met  in  Provincetown 
a  man  who  said  he  was  taxed  for  one-sixth  of  a  cow  right  in 
Sandwich,  which  he  had  inherited  from  his  grandfather.     I 
knew  that  a  cow  right  meant  a  vestige  of  common  pasture  and 
so  investigated  the  matter.     In  Sandwich   I  found    the  old 
Commoners'  records  extending  back  for  nearly  two  centuries, 
in  the  possession  of  a  farmer  in  whose  family  the  clerkship 
had  been  for  several  generations.     lie  said  nobody  had  ever 
asked  to  see  those  records  before,  and  with  Arcadian  simplicity 
allowed   rae   to   take   the   whole  collection    to   my   hotel    for 
examination.     I  created  quite  an  excitement  in  the  place  by 
reason  of  my  inquiries,  for  it  happened  that  just  about  that 
time  the  Ship  Canal  was  under  discussion   in  Sandwich,  and 
the  villagers  concluded  that  I  was  examining  into  the  title  ot 


36  The  Germanic  Origin  of 

the  proprietors  to  the  Town  Neck  with  a  view  to  land  specu- 
lation. 

In  the  town  of  Salem  also  I  have  discovered  very  inter- 
esting survivals  of  the  old  English  system  of  common  fields. 
Originally,  the  whole  region  round  about  the  first  settlement 
was  common  land.  The  region  of  North  Danvers  and  of  the 
town  of  Peabody  was  once  a  part  of  "Salem's  communal 
domain.  Winter  Island  long  was,  and  Salem  Neck  still  is, 
more  or  less  common  land.  The  outlying  portions  of  Salem 
were  gradually  granted  out  to  individuals  with  important 
reservations  by  the  town*  in  the  interest  of  parish  churches, 
for  the  poor  and  for  the  encouragement  of  certain  public 
works,  like  the  manufacture  of  glass,  which  was  very  early 
attempted  by  the  thrifty  Puritans  as  a  business  enterprise, 
like  the  manufacture  of  New  England  rum,  although  with 
less  profit.  There  were  for  many  years  in  the  town  of  Salem 
certain  common  fields  owned  by  associated  proprietors  just  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Sandwich  Town  Neck.  Such  were  the 
North  and  South  Fields  in  Salem.  The  old  Commoners' 
records  of  the  South  Field  are  still  preserved  in  the  library  of 
the  Essex  Institute,  and  date  back  as  far  as  1680.  Under  the 
date  of  October  14  of  that  year,  I  find  the  following:  Voted, 
that  the  proprietors  have  liberty  to  put  in  cattle  for  herbage 
— that  is  to  say,  6  cows,  4  oxen,  3  horses  or  yearlings,  or  24 
calves,  to  10  acres  of  land,  and  so  in  proportion  to  greater  or 
lesser  quantities  of  land ;  and  no  person  shall  cut  or  strip 
their  Indian  corn  stalks  after  they  have  gathered  their  corn, 
on  penalty  of  forfeiting  herbage."  These  old  common  fields 
have  long  since  disappeared,  for  they  are  now  built  over  by 
the  city  of  Salem;  but  there  still  survives,  at  a  little  distance 
from  the  heart  of  the  town,  an  example  of  the  same  sort  of 
land  tenure  upon  quite  a  large  scale.  The  so-called  Great 
Pastures  of  Salem,  some  three  hundred  acres,  are,  to  this  day, 
owned  and  managed  by  a  small  company  of  proprietors  in 
common,  of  whom  Dr.  Wheatland,  of  the  Essex  Institute,  has 
been,  for  many  years,  the  clerk.     He  has  in  his  possession  the 


New  England  Towns.  37 

records  of  the  proprietary,  extending  back  for  manv  genera- 
tions. These  records  are  full  of  old  time  regulations  in  regard 
to  common  fencing,  common  pasturage,  cow  commons,  sheep 
commons,  and  the  like.  The  votes  are  much  the  same  from 
year  to  year.  We  can  hardly  expect  much  variety  in  the 
administration  of  common  fields  during  the  short  period  of 
New  England  history  since  the  system  endured  for  so  many 
centuries  in  Europe  without  any  appreciable  modification.* 

The  life  principle  enduring  in  these  apparently  dead  forms 
of  land  tenure  is  the  sovereignty  of  the  community  over  its 
individual  or  associate  members.  Although  inheriting  defi- 
nite rights  in  the  common  land,  shareholders  are  subject  to 
the  will  of  the  majority.  Communal  sovereignty  over  lands 
exists  even  where  individual  landed  rights  appear  most  abso- 
lute. The  other  day  a  newspaper  scrap  was  sent  me  from  the 
South  concerning  a  Mississippi  planter  who  wanted  to  turn 
his  plantation  into  a  stock  farm.  His  neighbors  who  were  in 
the  habit  of  planting  cotton  remonstrated  and  carried  the  case 
into  public  court,  praying  for  an  injunction  to  prevent  the 
man  from  sowing  grass  seed,  on  the  ground  that  the  grass 
would  spread  over  adjoining  plantations  and  unfit  them  for 
raising  cotton.  The  injunction  was  granted  by  the  court  and 
illustrates  how,  in  a  quarter  of  our  country  where  individu- 
alism is  supposed  to  be  most  rampant,  the  sovereignty  of  the 
community  over  land  is  recognized  by  law,  even  in  the  matter 
of  what  farmers  plant. 

Traces  of  the  old  system  of  agrarian  community  are  crop- 
ping out  in  many  different  States  of  the  American  Union, 
which  itself  is  based,  as  a  permanent  and  necessary  institu- 
tion, upon  the  idea  of  territorial  commonwealth,  with  self 
governing  States  gradually  organized   out   of  the   Common 


*The  village  community  of  early  Salem  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
cases  of  historic  survival  in  New  England.  An  attempt  to  point  out 
some  of  the  most  striking  features  of  that  old  plantation  has  been  made  in 
a  monograph  upon  "Cape  Ann  and  Salem  Plantations,"  now  in  press  at 
the  Essex  Institute,  and  to  be  republished  in  this  University  series. 


38         The  Germanic  Origin  of  New  England  Towns. 

Land  of  the  nation,  *  as  New  England  Towns  were  organized 
out  of  village  folk-land.  Wherever  in  this  common  Saxon 
land  the  student  may  care  to  institute  researches  into  the 
beginnings' of  civic  life,  there  he  will  find,  if  he  digs  deeply- 
enough,  the  old  Saxon  principle  of  land  community  uniting 
men  together  upon  a  common  basis  and  around  a  common 
centre..  Whether  that  centre  be  the  Town  Commons  of  the 
North  or  the  Court  Greens  of  the  South,  the  Common  Pas- 
tures of  Massachusetts  or  the  Common  Pastures  of  South 
Carolina;  the  folk-land  of  a  ville,  parish,  township,  state,  or 
nation, — it  is  after  all  much  the  same  in  principle,  for  these 
communal  interests  are  all  derived  from  a  common  Saxon 
source.  There  is  much  to  learn  by  a  study  of  the  local 
beginnings,  agrarian  and  economic,  of  these  United  States. 
There  is  surely  a  common  country  of  historic  worth  yet  to  be 
discovered,  for  mere  surface  mining,  here  and  there,  in  vari- 
ous quarters,  indicates  a  vast  and  wide-reaching  common- 
wealth below.  It  is  the  commonwealth  of  law  and  custom,  of 
race  and  kinship,  historic  mines  that  can  never  be  exhausted, 
for  they  extend  not  only  underneath  all  imaginary  sections 
of  our  land,  but  under  the  dividing  sea  of  .Revolutionary 
History  itself,  uniting  the  New  World  inseparably  to  the 
Old. 


*  Maryland's  influence  in  founding  a  National  Commonwealth,  Fund 
Publication  No.  11,  Maryland  Historical  Society,  1877.  By  H.  B.  Adams. 
In  this  monograph  there  is  evidence  showing  not  only  that  the  in- 
fluence of  Maryland  predominated  in  securing  the  great  land  cessions 
to  the  United  States,  but  that  the  common  relation  of  the  English  Colo- 
nies in  America  to  these  western  lands,  won  by  the  blood  and  treasure  of 
all,  was  in  itself  a  most  substantial  ground  for  permanent  and  necessary 
Union.  After  the  Revolution,  the  loosely  confederated  States  would  have 
broken  apart  if  it  had  not  been  for  their  common  interest  in  the  western 
territory  as  a  potential  means  of  paying  off  State  debts  and  rewarding 
soldier-veterans.  Moreover  the  great  West  afforded  field  for  republican 
expansion  upon  necessarily  federal  principles. 


COOPERATION  IN  UNIVERSITY  WORK. 

By    The    Editor. 

[These  explanatory  remarks  were  made  November  17,  18S2,  before  the  Historical  and 
Political  Science  Association  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  for  the  sake  of  developing 
still  further,  on  the  part  of  its  members,  that  cooperative  spirit  which  is  the  motive  power 
of  this  University  Series. — H.  B.  a.] 

The  need  of  some  channel  for  the  systematic  publication  of  Johns 
Hopkins  University  Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Science, 
gave  rise  to  the  idea  of  a  series  of  monographs,  each  complete  in 
itself,  but  all  contributing  toward  a  common  end, — the  development 
of  American  Institutional  and  American  Economic  History.  The 
idea  of  a  serial  publication  of  numbered  monographs,  one  paper 
sustaining  another,  was  already  current  in  Holtzendorff's  Deutsche 
Zeit  und  Streit  Fragen  ;  in  Virchow's  and  Holtzendorff's  Samni- 
lung  gemeinverstiindlicher  wissenschaftlicher  Vortrilge ;  in  Con- 
rad's Sammlung  nationalokonomischer  und  statistischer  Abhand- 
lungen  des  staatswissenschaftlichen  Seminars  zu  Halle;  and  in 
Schmoller's  Staats-  und  socialwissenschaftliche  Forschungen.  But 
the  special  impulse  to  this  University  Series  was  the  Giessener 
Studien  auf  dera  Gebiet  der  Geschichte,  instituted  in  1881  by 
Wilhelm  Chicken,  editor  of  the  Monograph-History  of  the  World, 
(Allgemeine  Geschichte  der  Welt  in  Einzeldarstellungen,)  a  serial 
work  which  has  been  in  progress  since  1878,  through  the  coopera- 
tion of  historical  specialists,  a  work  which  has  an  earlier  parallel 
in  the  political  held  in  Bluntschli's  Staatsworterbueh  (1S.">7).  and 
a  later  parallel  in  the  economic  field  in  Schoenberg's  Haudbuch 
des  politischen  Oekononomie  (1882),  both  composed  by  special- 
ists upon  the  sound  economic  principles  of  division  of  labor  and 
scientific  cooperation. 

The  impulse  received,  in  the  first  instance,  from  Germany  was 
strengthened  by  a  knowledge  of  the  efficient  workings  of  the 
cooperative  method  of  writing  municipal  and  national   history  in 


40  Cooperation  in  University  Work. 

America,  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Justin  Winsor  of  Har- 
vard University ;  also  by  observation  of  the  cooperative  method 
in  the  conduct  of  the  American  Journals  of  Mathematics,  Phi- 
lology, Chemistry,  the  Studies  from  the  Biological  Laboratory, 
and  the  Journal  of  Physiology,  the  latter  edited  by  an  English 
scholar  with  the  cooperation  of  English  and  American  special- 
ists, but  published  in  this  country  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University ;  still  further  by  acquaintance  with 
the  Peabody  Fund  Publications  of  the  Maryland  Historical  So- 
ciety; and  by  practical  suggestions  from  Mr.  Sidney  S.  Rider, 
publisher  of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Tracts. 

The  idea  of  studying  American  Institutional  and  American 
Economic  History,  upon  cooperative  principles,  beginning  with 
local  institutions,  and  extending  ultimately  to  national  institu- 
tions, developed  gradually  from  an  interest  in  municipal  history, 
first  awakened  in  the  Seminary  of  Professor  Erdmannsdoerffer  at 
the  University  of  Heidelberg,  where,  in  1875,  while  reading  the 
Gesta  Friderici  Imperatoris,  by  Otto  of  Freising,  seminary-dis- 
cussion turned  upon  the  Communes  of  Lombardy  and  the  question 
of  the  Roman  or  Germanic  origin  of  city  government  in  mediaeval 
Italy.  This  awakened  interest,  quickened  by  the  reading  of  Carl 
Hegel,  Arnold,  Von  Maurer,  Fustel  de  Coulanges,  was  ultimately 
directed  toward  England  and  New  England  by  a  suggestion  upon 
the  last  page  of  Sir  Henry  Maine's  Village  Communities,  where, 
quoting  Palfrey's  History  of  New  England  (ii,  13,  14)  and  certain 
remarks  in  The  Nation  (No.  273)*  upon  the  passage  by  Professor 
William  F.  Allen  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  Sir  Henry  calls 
attention  to  the  survival  of  Village  Communities  in  America. 
This  suggestive  idea,  verified  in  all  essential  details  with  reference 
to  Nantucket,  Plymouth  Plantations,  Cape  Anne,  Salem  and  the 
oldest  towns  in  New  England,  has  been  extended  gradually  to  a 


*  Professor  Allen's  communication  was  published  in  The  Nation,  Sep- 
tember 22,  1870,  as  a  "  Note  "  upon  Maine's  "Ancient  Law,"  before  his 
"Village  Communities  "  appeared  (1871).  Professor  W.  F.  Allen  was 
the  first  to  verify  Sir  Henry  Maine's  agrarian  theory  in  America  by  inde- 
pendent research  in  the  island  of  Nantucket,  "a  study  published  in  The 
Nation,  January  10, 1878,  under  the  title,  "A  Survival  of  Land  Community 
in  New  England."     Cf.  Nation,  Nov.  10,  1881. 


Cooperation  in  University  Work.  41 

cooperative  study  of  American  local  institutions  in  all  the  older 
States  and  throughout  the  North-west,  where,  in  Wisconsin,  Pro- 
fessor Allen,  the  original  pioneer,  has  joined  in  the  work,  sup- 
ported by  his  Seminary  of  advanced  students.  The  idea  is 
represented  in  the  distant  University  of  Nebraska,  at  Lincoln,  by 
Professor  George  E.  Howard,  who,  trained  at  German  Universi- 
ties, is  this  year  teaching  "  Institutional  History  "  by  the  compara- 
tive method,  with  Maine,  Hearn,  Laveleye,  Fustel  de  Coulanges, 
and  Lewis  H.  Morgan  for  suggestive  guides. 

It  is  interesting  to  see  the  knowledge  of  Aryan  institutions  thus 
advancing  westward.  The  science  of  English  Institutional  History 
is  represented  in  the  University  of  California  by  Albert  S.  Cook, 
the  newly  appointed  Professor  of  English,  who,  while  Associate 
at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  cooperated  most  efficiently  with 
the  Historical  Seminary  in  teaching  its  members  Anglo-Saxon 
and  in  publishing  for  their  use  "Extracts  from  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Laws"  (Henry  Holt,  1880),  illustrating  the  early  "institutions 
and  manners  of  the  English  people."  This  work  was  the  direct 
outgrowth  of  Seminary  needs,  for  Stubbs;  Select  Charters  con- 
tained but  few  extracts  from  Anglo-Saxon  Law  and  these  only  in 
the  English  translation  by  Thorpe.  Mr.  Cook's  edition  was  made 
very  serviceable  to  students  by  constant  reference  to  Stubbs'  Con- 
stitutional History  and  to  the  Essays  in  Anglo-Saxon  Law  by 
Professor  Henry  Adams,  formerly  of  Harvard  College,  and  by 
his  pupils,  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  Ernest  Young,  and  J.  Laurence 
Laughlin,  who,  advancing  from  German  and  English  ground,  were 
among  the  first  to  give  a  decided  impetus  to  the  study  of  historical 
jurisprudence  in  America. 

The  career  of  Mr.  Cook  well  illustrates  the  way  in  which  mod- 
ern science  is  conveyed  in  personal  forms  from  one  country  or  one 
University-centre  to  another.  Graduating  from  Rutgers  College 
in  1872,  he  taught  and  studied  for  a  few  years  in  this  country, 
and  then  went  to  Goettingen,  afterward  to  Leipzig.  In  l*"'.)  lie 
was  called  to  Baltimore  to  teach  Early  English,  of  which  in 
America  and  in  Germany  he  had  made  a  specialty.  In  1881  he 
went  to  England  to  study  with  Professor  Sweet,  then  back  again 
to  Germany,  where,  at  Jena,  in  the  summer  of  1S82  he  took  his 
Doctor  of  Philosophy,  with  a  thesis  on  the  Northumbrian  Dialect, 
approved  by  Professor  Sievers.  It  is  probable  that  his  previous 
6 


42  Cooperation  in  University  Work. 

University  connections  with  Baltimore,  together  with  other  influ- 
ences proceeding  from  English  and  German  experience,  had  some 
bearing  upon  his  immediate  call  to  a  professorship  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  California.  Thus  from  the  region  of  Saxe-Weimar,  or  as 
Freeman  says,  "that  make-believe  Saxony  which  is  really  Sla- 
vonic," a  knowledge  of  Early  English  was  borne  across  real  Saxon 
land,  across  the  Ocean,  across  a  Continent,  to  the  most  western 
home  of  the  English  people,  a  home  which  Charles  Kingsley 
called  "a  New  World  beyond  a  New  World."  Saxon  Studies, 
like  Saxon  Conquests,  have  pushed  westward  as  well  as  eastward, 
beyond  Old  Saxon  and  Old  English  frontiers.  It  is  interesting 
to  see  scientific  Markgrafen,  like  Cook  and  Sievers,  stationed 
upon  the  modern  borders.  "  What  Saxon  is  Cook  studying  at 
Jena?  Why  go  so  far?"  writes  Freeman.  "They  talk  a  fine 
West-Saxon  in  Virginia,*  with  their  ea  and  eo  well  turned  out, 
almost  as  on  Sumormetan,  only  on  Sumorsaetan  they  distinguish 


*  Mr.  Freeman  knows  Virginian  in  onjy  one  of  its  varieties.  Tide- 
water, Piedmont,  Valley,  Southwest  all  present  marked  differences.  The 
"  Tuckahoe  "  is  bewrayed  by  his  speech  as  soon  as  he  crosses  the  Blue 
Kidge.  The  broad  a,  in  a  host  of  words,  in  which  it  is  unknown  to  tbe 
dictionaries,  belongs  to  the  older  settlements  and  persists  in  certain 
primitives  even  after  they  have  been  transplanted  to  the  foot  of  the 
mountains.  The  first  a  in  Chamberlayne  is  pronounced  in  three  or  four 
different  ways,  all  Virginian  and  so  all  right.  The  notorious  slurring  of 
the  medial  r,  common  in  large  belts  of  English  speech,  is  observable 
everywhere  in  Virginia,  but  much  less  in  some  sections  than  in  otbers, 
and  the  volatilization  of  the  final  r  is  not  so  marked  in  the  Piedmont  as 
it  is  in  the  Tide-water  section,  while  the  Lower  Valley  bas  a  guttural  r 
final,  due  to  German  influence.  Scotch-Irish  has  told  on  the  dialect  of  the 
Upper  Valley  and  the  Southwest.  Clipping  of  final  consonants  is  noto- 
riously Scotch,  and  easy  theorists  have  exaggerated  the  African  influence. 
But  this  is  not  a  subject  for  any  one  except  a  trained  and  unprejudiced 
observer.  Almost  everybody  notices  differences  of  pronunciation,  but 
very  few  can  register  them  with  precision  and  reproduce  them  with  accu- 
racy. It  is  high  time  that  linguistic  students  should  enter  upon  this  field 
of  research  before  the  outlying  districts  of  the  South  are  brought  into  the 
quicker  life  of  the  other  States.  The  Southern  shibboleths  will  in  time  be 
lost,  and  I  have  myself  heard  from  Southern  lips  such  pronunciations  as 
"  Noo-Yark,"  "Toosday,"  and  "  dooty,"  which  used  to  wound  the  Southern 
ear  almost  as  much  as  the  gasping  of  the  Cockney,  which  we  call  "  drop- 
ping the  A." — B.  L.  Q. 


Cooperation  in  University  Work.  43 

janua*  and  dama  which  on  Magdslande  sound  alike."  But  it 
takes  a  West-Saxon  thus  to  recognize  West-Saxon.  Old  Eng- 
land explains  New  England.  Schleswig  and  Switzerland  reveal 
Early  England  to  the  English  historian.  A  knowledge  of  Old 
World  science  is  absolutely  indispensable  to  scientific  discov- 
ery in  the  New  World.  The  local  dialects  of  America  can 
never  be  studied  with  an  understanding  mind  until  American 
students  study  the  local  dialects  of  England,  as  Dr.  Cook  has 
studied  the  Northumbrian  dialect.  There  is,  perhaps,  a  certain 
historic  fitness  in  the  fact  that  Old  English  is  so  well  taught  in 
Germany,  the  oldest  of  the  three  homes  of  the  English  people ; 
and  it  is  surely  very  natural  that  Saxon  studies  should  traverse 
and  re-traverse  the  old  lines  of  Teutonic  migration. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  wandering  of  peoples  or  in  the  history 
of  the  Errantes  Scholares  of  the  Middle  Ages  which  rivals  the 
migrations  of  the  modern  scholar.  In  1875,  the  year  President 
Oilman  came  eastward  to  Baltimore  from  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia, whither  he  had  been  called  in  1872  from  a  professorship 
in  Yale  College,  a  student  who  that  year  graduated  from  Berkeley 
came  eastward  by  the  advice  of  his  teachers  and  wandered,  like  a 
veritable  fahrender  Schiller,  from  one  institution  to  another  until 
he  reached  the  University  of  Leipzig,  upon  the  historic  border 
between  the  Teuton  and  the  Slave.  At  the  same  time,  the  newly 
appointed  President  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  was  wan- 
dering over  Europe,  visiting  the  chief  educational  institutions  of 


*  Readers  who  happen  not  to  be  familiar  with  the  peculiar  pronunciation 
of  Piedmont  Virginia  (Magdsland),  and  who  therefore  fail  to  apprehend 
Mr.  Freeman's  allusion,  may  now  enjoy  what  the  President  of  the  Del- 
phian Club  thought  the  crowning  felicity  of  human  existence — "a  joke 
well  explained."  In  the  region  referred  to,  the  final  r  is  usually  silent; 
and  thus  door  [janua)  and  doe  [dama)  are  pronounced  exactly  alike.  The 
writer  remembers  to  have  met  with  an  indigenous  ballad,  set  to  music, 
and  much  in  favor  with  the  fair  sex,  in  which  "  store,"  "  sure,"  and  "  so  " 
were  made  to  rhyme  with  each  other.  It  represented  the  reasonable  irri- 
tation of  a  maiden  at  the  timidity  of  a  bashful  lover,  who  could  not  screw 
his  courage  to  the  proposing-point ;  and  in  one  stanza  she  complains: 

"I  know  liis  love  is  constant, 
Affectionate  and  pure:    |>yo] 
What  ails  the  bashful  fellow 
That  he  cannot  tell  uic  so?"  — W.  H.   H. 


44  Cooperation  in  University  Work. 

Germany,  France,  and  England,  with  a  view  to  the  transmigration 
of  ideas  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New.  In  1876  the  American 
student,  quickened  by  European  travel  and  experience,  returned 
to  his  native  land  to  enter  upon  a  philosophical  Fellowship  at  the 
new  University,  the  President  of  which  had  been  inaugurated  in 
the  Monumental  City  on  the  22nd  of  February  of  that  year.  The 
University,  like  the  ideas  of  its  President  and  like  the  culture  of 
the  returning  student,  was  neither  German  nor  French  nor  English, 
but  American  and  cosmopolitan.  This  country  and  all  its  insti- 
tutions, though  they  adopt  the  best  which  the  Old  World  can 
teach,  will  constitute  a  New  World  still  by  natural  selection,  and 
by  independent  organization  in  harmony  with  a  new  environment. 
The  California  student,  who  had  been  schooled  in  German  Uni- 
versities for  one  year,  studied  for  two  more  years  at  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University  and  then  took  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Phi- 
losophy, with  this  significant  thesis,  "The  Interdependence  of  the 
Principles  of  Human  Knowledge."  He  was  then  called  across 
the  Continent,  to  his  Alma  Mater,  to  become  an  Assistant  Pro- 
fessor in  literature  and  philosophy.  From  that  frontier-post,  his 
contributions  to  the  Galifornian,  the  Berkeley  Quarterly,  and 
the  Journal  of  Speculative  Philosophy  came  migrating  east- 
ward. "Mind-stuff"  and  other  "Realities"  pushed  across  the 
sea,  marched  into  England  from  the  West,  and  effected  a  certain 
intellectual  conquest  in  self  restricted  Saxon  ways  by  publication 
in  a  very  special  philosophical  journal  known  as  ''The  Mind," 
(July,  1881;  Jan.,  1882).  And  now  Dr.  Royce  himself  has  again 
migrated  eastward,  having  been  invited  to  a  position  as  lecturer 
upon  Philosophy  in  Harvard  College,  as  substitute  for  Professor 
James,  who  has  again  wandered  to  Europe. 

At  the  same  time  Dr.  Royce  was  returning  eastward,  Dr.  * 
Stringham,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  and  afterward  a 
Fellow  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  then  travelling  Fellow 
of  Harvard,  was  returning  westward  from  the  University  of 
Leipzig  to  his  old  home  in  Kansas,  to  push  on  thence  to  his  new 
western  home  in  the  University  of  California,  where  he  has  ac- 
cepted a  professorship  in  Mathematics.  And  now  a  student  from 
California,  bearing  letters  from  the  faculty  of  the  institution  at 
Berkeley,  has  come  eastward  to  Baltimore,  leaving  an  associate 
editorship  of  the  San  Francisco  Bulletin,  for  the  sake  of  discover- 


Cooperation  in  University  Work.  45 

ing,  for  himself,  an  old  world  of  science.  And  already  in  the 
light  of  Institutional  studies  he  is  investigating  the  municipal 
history  of  St.  Louis,  and  is  preparing  to  develop  a  veritable  mine 
in  the  study  of  frontier  law  and  of  the  wonderful  evolution  of 
self-government  in  California  mining-camps,  where  old  Saxon 
forms  of  associated  families  of  men  sprang  full  armed  into  life 
and  law.  A  student  from  Professor  Howard's  Seminary  in 
Nebraska  has  also  come  eastward  to  continue  his  western  studies. 
He  represents,  moreover,  a  comity  of  scientific  associations  first 
established  at  German  Universities  between  his  American  instruc- 
tors. And  with  the  student  from  Nebraska  comes  a  Regent  of 
the  Nebraska  University,  a  graduate  of  Amherst  College,  who, 
although  a  man  of  middle  age,  has  entered  the  same  Seminarium 
with  his  western  protege. 

Such  facts  illustrate  not  only  the  remarkable  migrations  of  the 
modern  scholar,  but  that  curious  system  of  intercollegiate  exchange 
which  has  developed  so  rapidly  of  late  in  America.  Within  the 
space  of  the  last  six  years,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  has 
held  in  Baltimore  a  Johns  Hopkins  University  Fellowship,  one  of 
the  Harvard  "travelling"  Fellowships  at  Leipzig  and  Bonn,  a 
tutorship  at  Harvard,  a  professorship  at  Bowdoin  College,  and 
a  professorship  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he,  a  New 
England  man,  succeeded  a  Virginian  who  had  been  called  north 
to  Columbia  College.  There  are  signs  of  a  new  era  in  the  educa- 
tional history  of  this  country.  A  graduate  student  from  South 
Carolina  comes  to  Baltimore  and,  through  association  with  a 
graduate  of  Brown  University,  obtains  the  Prineipalship  of  a 
High  School  in  a  Connecticut  Town.  A  graduate  of  Columbia 
College  lectures  in  Baltimore  and  Ithaca.  A  graduate  of  Iowa 
College  in  1874,  afterwards  a  student  at  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  held  a  Fellowship  in  Political  Science  for  two  years  in 
Baltimore,  took  his  degree  of  Ph.  D.,*  studied  one  year  at  Ueidel- 


*  Dr.  Henry  C.  Adams'  graduating  thesis  for  the.  Doctor's  degree  at  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  taken  in  1878  alter  special  examination  in 
History  by  Mr.  George  Bancroft  and  in  Political  Economy  by  Professor 
Francis  A.  Walker,  was  published  in  the  Tubingener  Zeitschrift  fur  die 
gesammte  Staatswissenschaft,  1879,  under  the  title  Zur  (Jesehichte  der 
JBesteuerung  in  den  Vereinigten  Staaten  von  Amerika  in  der  L'eriode  von 
1789-1816.  The  paper  should  be  republished  and  the  subject  continued 
in  America. 


46  Cooperation  in  University  Work. 

berg  under  Knies  and  Bluntschli  and  at  Berlin  under  Wagner  and 
Engel,.then,  after  his  return  to  America,  lectured  in  quick  succes- 
sion at  three  different  institutions,  at  Michigan,  Cornell,  and  Johns 
Hopkins  Universities.  C.  R.  Lanman,  a  Doctor  of  Philosophy 
from  Yale  College,  who  afterward  studied  two  years  in  Germany, 
advanced  in  four  years  from  a  Fellowship  and  an  Associateship 
in  the  Johns  Hopkins  to  a  professorship  in  Harvard  College. 
He  was  succeeded  by  a  former  pupil  in  Baltimore,  who,  born  in 
Austria,  migrated  to  America,  entered  the  University  of  Chicago, 
graduated  in  1877  at  Furman  College,  South  Carolina,  from  the 
instruction  of  Professor  Toy,  studied  under  Professor  Whitney  in 
New  Haven  one  year,  took  his  Ph.  D.  in  Baltimore  in  one  year 
more,  and  then  studied  a  year  longer  in  Germany  before  returning 
to  the  Johns  Hopkins.  A  Harvard  Lecturer  and  a  Michigan 
University  Professor  spend  half  their  time  in  Baltimore.  College 
training  and  professorial  experience  are  no  longer  local  and  pro- 
vincial. Stronger  currents  of  influence  are  already  arising:  col- 
legiate reciprocity,  the  exchange  of  thought,  methods,  and  men  ; 
university  education  in  the  Old  World  and  in  the  New;  special 
qualifications  for  special  work;  character  born  of  good  training 
at  home,  and  developed  by  school,  college,  university,  and  the 
world, — these  are  ideas  which  must  prevail. 

Among  the  most  encouraging  sigus  of  the  times  are  the  cordial 
relations  subsisting  between  the  higher  institutions  of  learning, 
and  especially  in  that  growing  brotherhood  of  scholars  which  is 
to  be  found  in  every  real  University  centre.  At  the  Johns  Hopkins 
during  the  past  year  there  have  met,  upon  the  common  ground  of 
science,  representative  graduates  from  fifty-two  different  Colleges 
and  Universities,  students  from  twenty-one  different  States  of  the 
American  Union,  and  from  various  foreign  countries.  If  to  this 
record  should  be  added  a  full  account  of  the  various  College  and 
University  connectionsthat,  at  onetimeoranother, have  been  enjoyed 
by  the  ninety-four  Fellows,  by  the  eighty-six  different  Instructors, 
Lecturers,  Associates,  and  Professors  who  have  been  connected 
with  the  Johns  Hopkins,  it  would  certainly  appear  that  the  leading 
institutions  of  Europe  and  America  had  met  in  Baltimore  by  rep- 
resentation. The  College  and  University  system  of  the  world 
would  appear  in  microcosm.  Without  special  knowledge  of  or 
inquiry  into  the  subject,  one  might  enumerate  the  following  Euro- 


Cooperation  in  University  Work.  47 

pean  centres  of  learning  which  have  afforded  instruction  and 
scientific  training  to  members  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University 
staff:  Oxford,  Cambridge,  London,  Paris,  Berlin,  Vienna,  Leipzig, 
Munich,  Goettingen,  Tubingen,  Heidelberg,  Strassburg,  and  other 
German  Universities,  the  round  of  two  or  three  of  which  is  always 
made  by  American  as  well  as  by  German  students.  Lecturers 
from  Oxford,  Cambridge,  the  University  of  London,  Freiburg  ira 
Breisgau,  Harvard,  Yale,  Brown,  Cornell,  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
Virginia,  and  Tennessee  have  appeared  in  Baltimore.  More  than 
one  hundred  students  and  instructors  have  gone  forth  from  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University  to  lecture  or  teach  elsewhere.  Fifty 
different  institutions  of  collegiate  or  university  grade  have  had 
instructors  from  Baltimore. 

It  is  interesting  to  view  geographically  the  migration  of  influ- 
ence from  this  University  centre  into  the  South,  the  South-West, 
the  West,  across  the  Continent,  and  around  the  world.  The  Johns 
Hopkins  has  sent  professors  or  teachers  to  University  of  Virginia, 
University  of  North  Carolina,  two  Colleges  and  a  Theological 
Seminary  in  South  Carolina,  University  of  Louisiana,  Universities 
in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  three  Colleges  and  a  University  in 
Pennsylvania,  two  Colleges  and  a  University  in  Ohio,  University 
of  Michigan,  University  of  Wisconsin,  University  of  California, 
University  of  Tokio,  and  University  of  Bonn.  Baltimore  specialists 
have  continued  work  in  Universities  of  Vienna,  Berlin,  Leipzig, 
Jena,  Munich,  Heidelberg,  Strassburg,  Bonn,  Goettingen,  Paris, 
London,  Oxford,  Cambridge,  and  Edinburgh.  Harvard  and  eight 
of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning  in  New  England,  (including 
those  at  Amherst,  Northampton,  and  Williamstown),  Cornell, 
Princeton,  Western  Maryland  College,  and  various  institutions  in 
the  City  of  Baltimore,  have  seen  fit  to  employ  the  services  of 
Johns  Hopkins  men  as  lecturers  or  instructors. 

It  is,  to  some  extent,  upon  the  historic  basis  of  such  connections 
as  these  that  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  is  gradually  widening 
its  lines  of  practical  influence  and  efficient  cooperation.  Such 
connections  afford  a  vantage-ground  for  the  up-building  of  Science, 
for  the  extension  of  new  methods  in  America,  for  the  local  estab- 
lishment of  new  ideas.  The  present  plan  for  the  cooperative  study 
of  Historical  and  Political  Science  is  for  advanced  students, 
whether  teachers  or  pupils,  here  or  elsewhere,  to  investigate  in  a 


48  Cooperation  in  University  Work. . 

systematic  way  the  Institutional  or  Economic  History  of  their  own 
section  or  locality.  Young  men,  with  slight  experience  in  scien- 
tific research,  will  see  an  obvious  advantage  in  beginning  work 
upon  familiar  ground  and  upon  limited  areas.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  re-write  the  History  of  the  "  Constitution  "  or  to  grapple  with 
the  giant  of  American  Finance  in  order  to  learn  how  to  deal  with 
historic  and  economic  questions.  History  and  Economy  begin  at 
home.  The  family,  the  hamlet,  or  neighborhood,  the  school  or 
parish,  the  village,  town,  city,  county,  and  state  are  historically 
the  ways  by  which  men  have  approached  national  and  international 
life.  It  was  a  preliminary  study  of  the  geography  of  Frankfort 
on  the  Main  that  led  Carl  Ritter  to  study  the  physical  structure 
of  Europe  and  Asia,  and  thus  to  establish  the  new  science  of 
Comparative  Geography.  He  says,  "  Whoever  has  wandered 
through  the  valleys  and  woods,  and  over  the  hills  and  mountains 
of  his  own  State,  will  be  the  one  capable  of  following  a  Herodotus 
in  his  wanderings  over  the  globe."  And  we  may  say  as  Ritter 
said  of  the  science  of  geography,  the  first  step  in  History  is  to 
know  thoroughly  the  district  where  we  live.  In  America,  Guyot 
has  represented  for  many  years  this  method  of  teaching  geog- 
raphy. Huxley  in  his  Physiography  has  introduced  pupils  to  a 
study  of  Nature  in  its  entirety  by  calling  attention  to  the  physical 
features  of  the  Thames  valley  and  the  wide  range  of  natural 
phenomena  that  may  be  observed  in  any  English  Parish.  Hum- 
boldt long  ago  said  in  his  Cosmos,  "Every  little  nook  and 
shaded  corner  is  but  a  reflection  of  the  whole  of  Nature."  There 
is  something  very  suggestive  and  very  quickening  in  such  a  phil- 
osophy of  Nature  and  History  as  regards  every  spot  of  the  earth's 
surface,  every  pebble,  every  form  of  organic  life,  from  the  lowest 
mollusk  to  the  highest  phase  of  human  society,  as  a  perfect  micro- 
cosm, perhaps  an  undiscovered  world  of  suggestive  truth.  But  it 
is  important  to  remember  that  all  these  things  should  be  studied 
in  their  widest  relations.  Natural  history  is  of  no  significance  if 
viewed  apart  from  Man.  Human  history  is  without  foundation 
if  separated  from  Nature.  The  deeds  of  men,  the  genealogy  of 
families,  the  annals  of  quiet  neighborhoods,  the  records  of  towns, 
states  and  nations  are  per  se  of  little  consequence  to  history  unless, 
in  some  way,  these  isolated  things  are  brought  into  vital  connec- 
tion with  the  progress  and  science  of  the  world.     To  establish 


Cooperation  in  University  Work.  49 

such  connections  is  sometimes  like  the  discovery  of  unknown 
lauds,  the  exploration  of  new  countries,  and  the  widening  of  the 
world's  horizon. 

American  local  history  should  first  be  studied  as  a  contribution 
to  national  history.  This  country  will  yet  be  viewed  and  reviewed 
as  an  organism  of  historic  growth,  developing  from  minute  germs, 
from  the  very  protoplasm  of  state-life.  And  some  day  this  country 
will  be  studied  in  its  international  relations,  as  an  organic  part  of 
a  larger  organism  now  vaguely  called  the  World  State,  but  as 
surely  developing  through  the  operation  of  economic,  legal,  social, 
and  scientific  forces  as  the  American  Union,  the  German  and 
British  Empires  are  evolving  into  higher  forms.  But  American 
History  in  its  widest  relations  is  not  to  be  written  by  any  one  man 
or  by  any  one  generation  of  men.  Our  History  will  grow  with  the 
Nation  and  with  its  developing  consciousness  of  internationality. 
The  present  possibilities  for  the  real  progress  of  historic  and  eco- 
nomic science  lie,  first  and  foremost,  in  the  development  of  a  gen- 
eration of  economists  and  practical  historians,  who  realize  that 
History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History  ;  secondly, 
in  the  expansion  of  the  local  consciousness  into  a  fuller  sense  of 
its  historic  worth  and  dignity,  of  the  cosmopolitan  relations  of 
modern  local  life,  and  of  its  own  wholesome  conservative  power 
in  these  days  of  growing  centralization.  National  and  interna- 
tional life  can  best  develop  upon  the  constitutional  basis  of  Local 
Self  Government  in  Church  and  State. 

The  work  of  developing  a  generation  of  specialists  has  already 
begun  in  the  College  and  the  University.  The  evolution  of  local 
consciousness  can  perhaps  be  best  effected  through  the  Common 
School.  It  is  a  suggestive  local  fact  that  the  School  Committee 
of  Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts,  lately  voted  (Berkshire. 
Courier,  September  6,  1882)  to  introduce  into  their  village  High 
School,*  in  the  hands  of  an  Amherst  graduate,  in  connection  with 
Nordhoff's  "  Politics  for  Young  Americans"  and  Jevons'  "Primer 
of  Political  Economy,"  the  article  upon  "The  Germanic  Origin 
of  New  England   Towns,"    which   was  once  read   in  part  before 


*The  catalogue  of  the  Great  Barrington  High  Sc1i.mi1  (1882)  shows  that 
the  study  of  History  and  Politics  is  there  founded,  as  it  should  be,  upon 
a  geographical  basis. 


50  Cooperation  in  University  Work. 

the  Village  Improvement  Society  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts, 
August  24,  1881,  and  published  in  the  Pittsfield  Evening  Jour- 
nal of  that  day.  Local  demand  really  occasioned  a  University 
supply  of  the  article  in  question.  The  possible  connection  between 
the  College  and  the  Common  School  is  still  better  illustrated  by 
the  case  of  Professor  Macy,  of  Iowa  College,  Grinnell,  who  is  one 
of  the  most  active  pioneers  in  teaching  "the  real,  homely  facts  of 
government,"  and  who  in  1881  published  a  little  tract  on  Civil 
Government  in  Iowa,  which  is  now  used  by  teachers  throughout 
that  entire  State  in  preparing  their  oral  instructions  for  young 
pupils,  beginning  with  the  township  and  the  county,  the  institu- 
tions that  are  "nearest  and  most  easily  learned."  A  special 
pupil  of  Professor  Macy's,  Albert  Shaw,  A.  B.,  Iowa  College, 
1879,  is  now  writing  a  similar  treatise  on  Civil  Government  in 
Illinois  for  school  use  in  that  State.  There  should  be  such  a 
manual  for  every  State  in  the  Union. 

It  is  curious  to  see  how  influences  act  and  interact.  In  1881, 
Mr.  Shaw  came  to  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  leaving  the 
conduct  of  a  Grinnell  newspaper  in  the  hands  of  an  associate 
editor.  Here  in  Baltimore,  the  young  man  from  Iowa  joined  the 
Historical  Seminary  and  wrote  a  paper  upon  "  Local  Government 
in  Illinois,"  which  won  high  praise  from  James  Bryce,  M.  P.,  and 
was,  at  the  latter's  request,  published  in  the  Fortnightly  Review, 
October,  1882,  and  will  soon  be  republished  in  this  University 
Series.  From  such  influences  and  such  connections,  local  and 
metropolitan,  Mr.  Shaw  is  now  advancing  to  a  study  of  the  City 
Government  of  Chicago,  in  connection  with  other  workers  in  the 
municipal  field,  which  at  present  perhaps  is  the  most  important  in 
American  Politics. 

Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Science  in  connection  with 
the  Johns  Hopkins  University  will  advance  upon  municipal  lines 
towards  the  scientific  investigation  of  State  and  National  Insti- 
tutions, political,  economic,  and  educational.  By  combination  of 
strength  and  by  continual  reinforcement,  American  History  and 
American  Economics  may  finally  advance  in  lines  both  long  and 
firm,  as  seen,  for  example,  in  the  "Narrative  and  Critical  His- 
tory of  the  United  States,"  which  is  the  joint  work  of  specialists 
in  various  parts  of  the  country.  Extensive  tracts  of  historic  and 
economic   ground    have   been   already   preempted,   but    enough 


Cooperation  in  University  Work.  51 

remains  for  student  immigration  throughout  the  coming  genera- 
tion. The  beauty  of  Science  is  that  there  are  always  New  Worlds 
to  discover.  And  at  the  present  moment,  there  await  the  student 
pioneer  vast  tracts  of  American  Institutional  and  Economic  His- 
tory almost  as  unbroken  as  were  once  the  forests  of  America,  her 
coal  measures  and  prairies,  her  mines  of  iron,  silver  and  gold. 
Individual  and  local  effort  will  almost  everywhere  meet  with  quick 
recognition  and  grateful  returns.  But  scientific  and  cosmopolitan 
relations  with  College  and  University  centres,  together  with  the 
generous  co-operation  o'f  all  explorers  in  the  same  field,  will  cer- 
tainly yield  the  most  satisfactory  results  both  to  the  individual 
and  to  the  community  which  he  represents. 

It  is  highly  important  that  isolated  students  should  avail  them- 
selves of  the  existing  machinery  of  local  libraries,  the  local  press, 
local  societies,  and  local  clubs.  If  such  things  do  not  exist,  the 
most  needful  should  be  created.  No  community  is  too  small  for 
a  Book  Club  and  for  an  Association  of  some  sort.  Local  studies 
should  always  be  connected  in  some  way  with  the  life  of  the 
community  and  should  always  be  used  to  quicken  that  life  to 
higher  conciousness.  A  student,  a  teacher,  who  prepares  a  paper 
on  local  history  or  some  social  question,  should  read  it  before  the 
Village  Lyceum  or  some  literary  club  or  an  association  of  teachers. 
If  encouraged  to  believe  his  work  of  any  general  interest  or  per- 
manent value,  he  should  print  it  in  the  local  paper  or  in  a  local 
magazine,  perhaps  an  educational  journal,  without  aspiring  to  the 
highest  popular  monthlies,  which  will  certainly  reject  all  purely 
local  contributions  by  unknown  contributors.  It  is  far  more 
practicable  to  publish  by  local  aid  in  pamphlet  form  or  in  the 
proceedings  of  Associations  and  learned  Societies,  before  which 
such  papers  may  sometimes  be  read. 

It  is  highly  desirable  that  every  paper  which  appears  in  con- 
nection with  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  should  bear 
the  stamp  of  corporate  recognition  by  some  worthy  local  organi- 
zation. Such  approval  and  especially  such  preliminary  publica- 
tion, will  introduce  an  unknown  student  to  science  with  credentials 
from  a  local  constituency.  Every  paper  which  is  to  be  printed  in 
this  University  Series  has  some  such  endorsement.  In  cases  where 
it  is  impracticable  to  secure  preliminary  publication  or  local  recog- 
nition, papers  may  be  submitted  to  the  Editor  of  this  Series  for 


52  Cooperation  in  University  Work. 

reference  to  a  special  committee  and  for  ultimate  report  to  the 
Johns  Hopkins  Historical  and  Political  Science  Association, 
which,  with  its  tributary  Seminaries  of  American  Institutional 
and  Economic  History  is  at  present  the  main  and  not  inadequate 
supply  for  this  University  publication  upon  the  present  basis. 

This  experiment  of  a  University  Series  in  the  field  of  Historical 
and  Political  Science,  like  many  other  experiments  in  connection 
with  the  educational  policy  of  the  Johns  Hopkins,  is  "tentative." 
It  is  primarily  an  attempt  to  meet  a  felt  want  on  the  part  of  grad- 
uate students  of  History  and  Politics  at  this  institution.  It  is 
secondarily  a  means  of  efficient  cooperation  between  graduates 
here  and  friends  of  Historical  and  Political  Science  elsewhere, 
along  lines  of  inquiry  that  have  been  already  opened  in  American 
Institutional  and  Economic  History.  The  plan  is  upon  a  very 
safe  footing  and  will  not  outrun  the  range  of  actual  experience. 
Every  step  thus  far  has  been  experimental.  Every  paper  upon 
the  published  list  has  relations  established  with  some  local  clientage, 
some  learned  society,  magazine,  or  journal,  or  else  with  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University.  The  foundations  of  the  enterprise  are  thus 
historical  and  economic. 

Encouragement  has  been  given  to  the  undertaking  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  Trustees  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  by  the  His- 
torical Societies  of  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  South  Carolina;  by 
the  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Society,  by  the 
Essex  Institute,  the  Magazine  of  American  History,  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  by  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society,  the  American  Social  Science  Association, 
and  by  the  Fortnightly  Review.  Aside  from  such  corporate 
recognition,  three  eminent  specialists  in  the  field  of  History  and 
Politics  have  expressed  their  hearty  approval  of  this  project:  Mr. 
Edward  A.  Freeman,  who  stands  as  godfather  to  the  series  by  a 
contribution  to  its  first  number;  James  Bryce,  M.  P.,  who  re- 
quested one  of  the  Studies  for  publication  in  an  English  Review ; 
Maxime  Kovalevsky,  Professor  of  History  and  Politics  in  the 
University  of  Moscow,  who  last  summer  came  to  this  country  to 
investigate  our  agrarian  history  and  the  germ-life  of  American 
Institutions,  which  subjects  he  found  already  in  process  of  inves- 
tigation at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

The  international  comity  of  Science  is  well  illustrated  in  the 
visit  of  this  Russian  Professor,  the  friend  of  Turgeuieff,  who  intro- 


Cooperation  in  University  Work.  53 

duced  him  to  this  country  through  Henry  Holt,  of  New  York. 
After  visiting  Harvard  University,  Professor  Kovalevsky  came  to 
Baltimore  with  letters  of  introduction  to  members  of  the  Johns 
Hopkins,  with  some  of  whom  he  had  already  indirect  acquaintance 
through  the  cosmopolitan  associations  of  German  Universities. 
On  his  way  to  Baltimore  he  visited  the  library  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Historical  Society  in  Philadelphia  and  asked  Mr.  Stone,  the  libra- 
rian and  editor  of  the  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and 
Biography,  if  he  had  any  materials  upon  the  subject  of  Local  Self 
Government  in  that  State.  "Nothing  except  proof-sheets,"  was 
the  response,  and  Mr.  Stone  handed  Professor  Kovalevsky  an 
article  which  Mr.  E.  R.  L.  Gould  had  lately  read  before  the 
Pennsylvania  Historical  Society  and  which  was  about  to  be  printed 
in  the  Magazine.  The  Professor  continued  his  journey  to  Balti- 
more and  sought  out  Mr.  Gould,  as  well  as  the  scientific  resources 
of  the  Seminary,  which,  together  with  those  of  the  Maryland 
Historical  Society,  were  placed  entirely  at  his  command.  He 
gathered  much  in  a  few  days,  chiefly  documents,  touching  the 
history  of  our  Public  Lands  and  the  mode  of  settling  and  organ- 
izing the  Great  West.  He  requested  the  cooperation  of  the 
Seminary  in  making  known  to  Russia  the  Institutional  and  Eco- 
nomic History  of  the  United  States.  He  made  arrangements  for 
the  sending  to  Moscow  of  all  monographs  in  this  Series  as  soon  as 
published,  and  even  secured  proof  sheets  of  Mr.  Gould's  article 
and  other  University  papers  in  their  first  form  of  publication. 
But  he  gave  the  Seminary  far  more  than  he  received.  He  held 
long  conferences  with  individual  members  ;  he  put  them  upon 
the  track  of  old  world  monographs  that  had  escaped  American 
notice;  he  put  individuals  in  communication  with  European 
scholars;  he  gave  many  useful  suggestions  as  to  the  best  methods 
of  exploiting  Old  English  Institutional  and  Economic  History, 
upon  which  subjects  he  himself  has  worked  for  many  years. 

Professor  Kovalevsky  is  the  leading  Russian  authority  in  the 
field  of  economic  and  institutional  history,  wherein  there  have 
been  and  are  so  many  co-workers  in  various  countries,  among 
whom  are  George  and  Konrad  Von  Maurer,  Hanssen,  Meit/.en, 
Thun,  Nasse,  Knies,  Roscher,  Biicher,  Held,  Inama-Sternegg, 
Brentano,  Colin,  Ochenkowski,  Miaskowsky,  Laveleye,  Kustel  de 
Coulanges,  Rogers,  Sir  Henry  Maine,  Mr.  Scebolim,  Henry  Adams, 


54  Cooperation  in  University  Work. 

H.  C.  Lodge,  Ernest  Young,  J.  Laurence  Laughlin,  W.  F.  Allen, 
and  D.  W.  Ross.  In  the  Revue  Historique,  the  French  rival  of 
the  Hislorische  Zeitnchrift,  is  an  appreciative  Review,  May  and 
June,  1882,  of  Kovalevsky's  labors  in  the  history  of  communal 
institutions.  In  speaking  of  his  two  most  recent  works,  written 
in  Russian,  one  on  Communal  Property  (I.  Moscow,  1879)  and 
the  other  on  the  Social  Organization  of  England  at  the  close  of 
the  Middle  Ages  (Moscow,  1880),  it  is  said,  "  Ce  sont  les  ouvrages 
les  plus  importants  et  les  plus  solides  qui  aient  vu  le  jour  en  Russie 
dans  ces  deux  dernieres  annees."  The  first  work,  not  yet  com- 
pleted, concerns  communal  property  among  the  native  races  of 
America,  the  agrarian  policy  of  Spain  in  the  East  Indies,  com- 
munal property  in  India,  modifications  of  the  land  tenure  in  India 
by  Mohammedan  and  English  dominion,  land  tenure  in  Algiers 
and  the  agrarian  policy  of  France.  Kovalevsky  has  also  written 
an  Umriss  einer  Gesehichte  der  Zerstiickelung  der  Feldgemein- 
schaft  im  Kanton  Waadt  (Zurich,  1877),  and  various  other  works, 
in  French  and  Russian. 

The  advice  and  encouragement  of  such  a  cosmopolite  in  Sci- 
ence, who  is  equally  at  home  in  Paris,  London,  Berlin,  and 
Moscow,  who  has  investigated  the  social  and  economic  history  of 
countries  as  wide  apart  as  India  and  America,  who  studies  the 
Landesgemeinde  of  Switzerland,  the  Town  Meeting  of  New 
England,  and  the  Russian  Mir  as  kindred  institutions,  who  views 
the  American  Prairies  of  the  Great  West  and  the  Russian  Steppes 
of  the  Great  East  in  the  same  economic  light,  who  represents  in 
his  political  philosophy  the  wide  horizon  of  internationality  as 
well  as  nation,  state,  and  narrow  commune, — the  advice  and 
encouragement  of  such  a  man  cannot  but  quicken  American 
youth  who  are  beginners  in  Science.  There  is  no  danger  of  their 
studies  being  lost  or  absorbed  in  such  a  master  mind.  On  the 
contrary,  through  such  influences,  through  such  connections  with 
European  scholars  and  European  journals,  good  local  work  in 
America  will  pass  into  higher  international  forms  and  yet  remain 
distinctively  American. 

European  scholars  are  only  too  glad  to  accept  and  recognize  as 
authoritative  the  special  work  of  American  students  investigating 
upon  their  own  ground,  with  all  the  advantages  of  local  acquaint- 
ance, local  observation,  local  libraries,  (private  and  public),  local 


Cooperation  in  University  Work.  55 

societies,  local  sympathy,  and  local  cooperation.  Foreign  scholars, 
who  travel  through  this  country  in  a  hurried  way,  know  well  that 
their  knowledge  of  the  land  is  superficial  and  their  experience 
necessarily  limited.  Observers  of  American  Democracy  like 
Tocqueville,  Kovalevsky,  Freeman,  Bryce,  and  Herbert  Spencer 
may  ascend  the  very  citadel  of  scientific  privilege;  they  may  view 
the  country  with  their  own  eyes,  through  newspapers,  or  through 
books,  but  they  can  never  command  the  American  situation.  Nor 
is  this  their  ambition.  Their  primary  object  is  to  sketch  America 
for  the  benefit  of  their  own  countrymen  ;  and  they  are  always  glad 
to  carry  home  suggestive  ideas  for  the  completion  of  their  sketches. 
Professor  Kovalevsky  would  have  been  delighted  to  find  in  Bal- 
timore articles  on  the  Local  Self-Government  of  every  State  in 
the  Union.  Mr.  Bryce  would  have  been  pleased  to  find  some 
scientific  account  of  the  origin  and  course  of  that  municipal  rev- 
olution in  Philadelphia,  where,  in  classic  speech,  Mr.  Freeman 
described  the  overthrow  of  one-man  power  as  procumbit  humi 
bos  ! 

American  students  are  beginning  to  find  out  the  scientific  sig- 
nificance of  contemporary  Municipal  and  National  Politics  in 
America.  They  are  beginning  to  see  what  wide-reaching  eco- 
nomic, institutional,  administrative,  educational,  political,  and 
international  problems  may  be  investigated  at  home  without  going 
abroad  for  original  material.  Old  world  science  and  old  world 
methods  have  been  introduced  into  this  country  in  a  liberal  way 
during  the  past  few  decades,  and  from  this  scientific  vantage- 
ground  it  would  seem  to  be  most  advisable  for  American  students 
of  History  and  Politics  to  enter  fields  for  which  there  are  in  this 
country  very  superior  advantages.  While  recognizing  the  unity 
of  all  Science,  we  must  nevertheless  admit  that  there  are  limita- 
tions and  varying  conditions  for  the  successful  prosecution  of 
certain  branches.  It  would  obviously  be  very  poor  economy  for 
an  American,  living  in  this  country,  to  attempt  to  write  the  mu- 
nicipal or  economic  history  of  any  English  Town,  German  Free 
City,  or  French  Commune,  for  which  work  the  best,  if  not  the 
only,  materials  are  upon  the  other  side  of  the  Ocean.  On  the 
other  hand,  not  even  Deutscher  Fleiss,  or  a  German  University, 
or  the  British  Museum,  can  amass  and  control  the  materials, 
manuscript  and  printed,  relating  to  a  single  American  city  or  one 


56  Cooperation  in  University  Work. 

of  the  older  New  England  Towns.  And  yet  such  resources  can 
easily  he  commanded  by  Americans  at  home,  through  the  media- 
tion of  State  Historical  Societies,  or  through  connection  with 
American  antiquarians  and  local  historians.  Why  should  Amer- 
icans attempt  to  write  the  history  of  foreign  governments,  foreign 
institutions,  old  world  economies,  when  there  is  so  much  to  do 
upon  home-ground  ?  The  results  of  European  investigations  lie 
before  our  very  doors,  and  can  be  employed  in  a  thousand  legiti- 
mate ways  for  the  upbuilding  of  American  Institutional  and 
American  Economic  History.  Pioneer  work  and  fresh  discoveries 
are  everywhere  possible  in  this  country;  but  this  cannot  be  said 
so  emphatically  of  the  Old  World.  All  the  benefit  of  scientific 
method  and  scholarly  training  that  could  be  derived  from  travers- 
ing and  re-traversing  the  archaeological  fields  of  Europe,  may  be 
enjoyed  in  America,  with  the  additional  advantage  of  finding  new 
truth  in  independent  ways. 

No  country  has  such  scientific  possibilities  as  America,  where 
in  a  College  Town  of  12,000  inhabitants,  like  Northampton,  Mas- 
sachusetts, one  individual,  Judge  Forbes,  leaves  a  bequest  of  over 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  a  free  public  library  "  of  science 
and  the  arts  in  their  broadest  acceptation,  of  ancient  and  modern 
history,  and  of  the  literature  of  our  own  and  other  nations ; "  or 
where,  as  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  another  individual,  George 
Peabody,  endows  with  $1,250,000  an  institute,  comprising,  (in 
addition  to  lecture  courses,  a  conservatory  of  music,  and  an  art 
gallery),  "an  extensive  library,  to  be  well  furnished  in  every 
department,  to  satisfy  the  researches  of  students  who  may  be  en- 
gaged in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  not  ordinarily  attainable  in  the 
private  libraries  of  the  country;"  and  where  another  individual, 
Enoch  Pratt,  endows  another  public  library  with  over  a  million 
dollars;  and  where  still  another  philanthropist  endows  a  Univer- 
sity and  a  Hospital  upon  a  scientific  basis  with  a  total  fund  of 
$7,000,000.  And  if  such  generous  foundations  are  not  enough  to 
gratify  the  growing  wants  of  young  Americans,  there  is  the 
expanding  Library  of  Congress,  the  Library  of  the  State  Depart- 
ment, with  its  manuscript  treasures,  the  Smithsonian  Institute, 
and  the  scientific  resources  of  the  National  Government,  which, 
through  proper  channels,  may  be  commanded  by  the  poorest 
student. 


Cooperation  in  University  Work.  57 

And  yet  even  these  prospects,  my  hearers,  are  not  the  widest 
which  are  opening  to  view.  Through  University  cooperation  in 
Baltimore,  the  individual  scholar  may  now  command  the  latest 
results  of  scientific  inquiry,  even  before  it  takes  permanent  form 
in  printed  volumes  and  in  the  great  libraries  of  Town,  City,  and 
Nation.  Through  our  University  Journals,  the  teacher  of  science, 
and  the  special  student,  even  though  removed  from  scientific  cen- 
tres, may  learn  of  the  progress  of  his  department  in  this  country 
and  in  Europe.  Through  a  system  of  scientific  exchanges,  now 
developing  in  Baltimore,  the  Proceedings  of  learned  societies,  the 
most  recent  discoveries  in  foreign  laboratories  of  science  are 
quickly  made  known  to  American  students.  Through  a  New 
Book  Department,  the  freshest  monographs  and  the  newest  books, 
French,  German,  and  English,  are  brought  to  student-notice 
immediately  upon  publication,  so  that  Americans  in  Baltimore 
are  more  sure  of  seeing  these  things  than  is  possible  in  the  smaller 
German  University  towns,  where  such  library  organization  is 
unknown. 

By  organized,  cooperative  effort,  American  students  earn  estab- 
lish organic  relations  with  Europeau  Universities,  Old  World 
Societies,  foreign  magazines  of  a  special  character,  scientific  appli- 
ances for  publication,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe, — in 
fact  with  the  whole  complex  of  Modern  Science,  into  which  no 
individual  student  can  possibly  find  his  way  without  scientific 
associations.  Fellowship  in  Science  will  always  afford  the  indi- 
vidual greater  strength  than  he  can  acquire  alone.  A  connection 
with  learned  societies,  special  libraries,  special  journals,  is  highly 
advantageous.  Cooperation  in  University  work  and  the  organi- 
zation of  scientific  results  are  very  important  for  American 
students,  who  wish  to  advance  the  cause  of  special  education  in 
this  country,  and  thereby  the  cause  of  American  Science. 


Ill 


Local  Government  in  Illinois 


Local  Government  in  Pennsylvania 


"It  is  not  creditable  to  us  as  an  educated  people  that  while  our  students  are  well 
acquainted  with  the  state  machinery  of  Athens  and  Rome,  they  should  be  ignorant  of 
the  corresponding  institutions  of  our  own  forefathers:  institutions  that  possess  a  living 
interest  for  every  nation  that  realises  its  identity,  and  have  exercised  on  the  well-being 
of  the  civilised  world  an  influence  not  inferior  certainly  to  that  of  the  Classical 
nations.  "  —  Stubbs,  Select  Charters. 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

1  N 

Historical    and    Political    Science 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 

History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History.-   Freeman 

III 

Local  Government  in  Illinois 

By  ALBERT  SHAW,  A.  B. 

Kepriiitecl   from  tlie    Fortnightly   Review 
ANI> 

Local  Government  in  Pennsylvania 

By  E.  R.  L.  GOULD,  A.  B. 

Head  before  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  May  I,  ISS2 


P.  A  LT  I  M  (i  i:  K 

Publishkd  by  Tin'.  Johns   Hopkins  Inivkusiiv 

JANUARY,    18  8.5. 


JOHN  MOKPHY  &  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  IN  ILLINOIS. 


It  is  difficult  to  approach  the  study  of  the  political  systems 
to-day  iu  operation  in  the  new  Western  States  without  a 
feeling  that  they  are  wholly  artificial  and  superimposed  in- 
ventions rather  than  growths.  Such  preconceptions  must  in 
good  measure  yield  before  a  study  of  the  simple  facts.  Arti- 
ficial and  mathematical  as  is  that  checker- board  system  of 
local  geography  which  a  township  map  of  Illinois  depicts,  it 
nevertheless  furnishes  metes  and  bounds  for  local  govern- 
ments which  are  neither  novel  nor  experimental,  hut  arc 
transplanted  scions  from  older  growths  of  Anglo-Saxon  com- 
munal life,  which  have  already  taken  firm  root  in  prairie 
soil  and  have  easily  adapted  themselves  to  the  modifying 
influences  of  the  new  environment.  It  must  he  remembered 
that  the  prairie  farmer  is  descended  from  people  who  for  cen- 
turies have  had  the  habit  of  attending  to  their  own  local 
affairs  ;  and  that  with  all  bis  fondness  for  paper  constitutions 
and  minute  written  laws,  he  is  but  re  enacting,  under  modi- 
fied forms,  the  social  arrangements  under  which  the  Auglo- 
Saxon  usually  insists  upon  living,  wherever  yon  transplant 
him.  The  safeguards  and  maxims  of  the  common  law  ari- 
as truly  the  heritage  of  the  young  Anglo-Saxon  in  the  Mis. 
sissippi  Valley  as  of  his  cousin  on  the  Severn  or  the  Thames. 

The  precise  forms  under  which  the  people  of  Illinois  are 
to-day  governing  themselves  have  been  largely  shaped  by 
certain  facts  in  the  history  of  the  State,  and  will  be  best  un- 
derstood in  the  light  of  a  preliminary  historical  sketch. 

Migration  from  the  Atlantic  States  to  (lie  interior  and 
Western  States  has  always  followed  the  parallels  of  latitude. 

A 


t>  Local  Government  in  Illinois. 

Illinois  is  a  remarkable  illustration  of  this  tendency.  A 
glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  the  State's  greatest  length 
(nearly  four  hundred  miles)  is  from  north  to  south  ;  and  that 
the  parallels  which  mark  its  northern  and  southern  limits 
include  the  sea-board  States  from  New  Hampshire  to  North 
Carolina.  Natural^',  then,  Southern  Illinois  derived  its 
population  from  Virginia  and  other  Southern  States,  while 
Northern  Illinois  was  chiefly  settled  from  Massachusetts  and 
other  New  England  States.  The  inquiry  into  the  habits  and 
opinions  of  government  which  these  people  brought  with 
them  to  their  new  homes  must  carry  us  a  step  further  back. 

M.  de  Tocqueville,  who  made  his  survey  of  American 
institutions  at. a  time  when  the  migratory  tide  was  setting 
strongly  toward  Illinois,  and  when  her  institutions  were  in  a 
formative  stage,  says  that  "  two  branches  may  be  distin- 
guished in  the  Anglo-American  family,  which  have  grown 
up  without  entirely  commingling — the  one  in  the  north,  the 
other  in  the  south."  New  England  had  been  colonized  by 
men  who  were,  in  the  language  of  the  same  writer,  u  neither 
lords  nor  common  people,  neither  rich  nor  poor."  A  people 
so  similar  in  education,  so  agreed  in  religious  beliefs,  and  so 
equal  in  property  and  in  social  rank,  formed  the  best  material 
for  a  pure  democracy  that  the  world  had  ever  seen.  Gradu- 
ally they  covered  New  England  with  a  congeries  of  small 
self-governing  agricultural  communities,  each  with  a  strongly 
individual  character,  and  bearing  some  striking  resemblances 
to  the  ancient  Teutonic  "mark."  Qualifications  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  political  privileges  were  not  onerous,  and  the  whole 
body  of  qualified  citizens  were  accustomed  to  assemble  in 
u  town  meetings,"  where  they  elected  officers,  discussed 
neighborhood  interests,  made  laws,  and  voted  taxes.  Even 
when,  after  the  separation  from  England,  the  State  govern- 
ments had  become  firmly  established,  the  towns  were  still 
permitted  to  make  and  administer  most  of  those  laws  which 
were  of  immediate  concern  to  them.  The  legislature  of  the 
State  was  composed  of  representatives  from  the  towns,  and 
made  laws  which  affected  the  towns  only  in  matters  of  com- 
mon interest.     Such  State  laws,  furthermore,  were  executed 


Local  Government  in  Illinois.  7 

by  the  town  officers  within  their  respective  jurisdictions. 
The  New  England  county  was  an  aggregation  of  towns  to 
constitute  a  judicial  district,  wherein  might  be  maintained 
a  judiciary  establishment  midway  between  the  justices' 
courts  of  the  towns  and  the  superior  court  of  the  State.  The 
county  had  no  very  distinct  political  character.  As  a  whole, 
the  New  England  system  was  one  highly  localized  both  in 
administration  and  in  authority. 

In  Virginia  the  structure  of  society  was  radically  dif- 
ferent. Opposed  to  the  small  freeholds  of  New  England,  we 
find  from  the  beginning  a  tendency  to  mass  the  land  in  large 
estates.  The  institution  of  slavery,  which  always  dishonors 
and  degrades  free  labor,  forbade  the  growth  of  a  strong 
middle  class.  The  wealthy  planter  had  no  interest  in  com- 
mon with  his  tenants  and  servants.  The  communal  life  of 
village  or  neighborhood  could  not  develop  under  such  an 
industrial  system.  The  planter  was  a  sort  of  feudal  lord  on 
his  own  domain,  and  local  self-rule  by  majorities  found  no 
place.  We  find  territorial  divisions,  but  chiefly  for  con- 
venience in  limiting  the  jurisdiction  of  courts,  collecting 
State  taxes,  and  holding  State  elections.  The  State  Govern- 
ment was  the  centre  both  of  authority  and  administration. 
The  Governor  appointed  all  justices  of  the  peace  throughout 
the  State.  The  justices  residing  in  any  county  constituted 
a  county  court,  which,  in  addition  to  judicial  functions,  was 
intrusted  with  the  management  of  all  the  county  Imsiness. 
This  court  co-operated  with  the  Governor  in  appointing 
sheriff  and  coroner.  It  appointed  constables  and  road  com- 
missioners, levied  taxes,  and  when  the  State  had  made  some 
provision  for  schools,  the  county  court  appointed  the  board 
of  school  commissioners.  A  landed  aristocracy  thus  became 
the  State's  fiscal  agents,  the  local  magistrates,  and  the  sole 
managers  of  county  affairs.  The  subdivisions  of  the  county 
for  elections,  schools,  and  care  of  paupers,  were  mere  parti- 
tions of  territory,  without  political  significance. 

These  two  diverse  systems  of  New  Kngland  and  Virginia 
were  destined  to  meet  and  to  strive  for  supremacy  in  Nlinois. 

Though  Illinois  forms  a  part  of  the  vast  territory  claimed 


8  Local  Government  in  Illinois. 

by  the  British  Crown  in  virtue  of  Cabot's  voyage  of  1498, 
and  was,  in  part,  included  in  the  original  Virginia  grant,  it 
nevertheless  was  in  possession  of  the  French  until  finally 
ceded  to  England  at  the  close  of  the  "French  and  Indian 
War,"  in  1763.  French  peasants  to  the  number  of  three 
thousand  had  formed  village  settlements  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  State,  on  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Rivers.  For 
fifteen  years  they  maintained  a  military  government,  with 
headquarters  at  the  French  village  of  Kaskaskia.  In  1778, 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  State  of  Virginia  sent 
out  a  little  force  of  men,  who  made  their  way  through  the 
wilderness,  took  Kaskaskia,  and  readily  persuaded  all  the 
French  villagers  to  swear  allegiance  to  Virginia.  That  en- 
terprising commonwealth  proceeded  to  organize  Illinois  as  a 
Virginia  county,  including  under  that  name  the  entire  coun- 
try north  of  the  Ohio  and  east  of  the  Mississippi.  Although 
before  a  decade  had  elapsed  Virginia  and  the  other  individual 
States  had  ceded  their  western  territories  to  the  United 
States,  Illinois  had  already  received  some  impress  of  Vir- 
ginian forms  of  government. 

Under  the  famous  "Ordinance  of  1787,"  Congress  estab. 
lished  a  provisional  government  for  the  country  north  of  the 
Ohio,  which  now  took  the  name  of  the  "Northwestern  Ter- 
ritory." This  charter  did  not  provide  for  municipal  corpo- 
rations. It  allowed  the  people  a  representative  assembly, 
and  exacted  a  very  low  property  qualification  from  electors. 
While  the  Legislature  was  permitted  to  make  all  needful 
laws,  the  Governor,  himself  appointed  by  Congress,  was  au- 
thorized by  the  ordinance  to  appoint  all  minor  officers 
throughout  the  territory.  This,  manifestly,  was  after  the 
Virginian  pattern,  and  was,  in  fact,  the  work  of  no  less  a  Vir- 
ginian statesman  than  Mr.  Jefferson.  But,  while  the  ordi- 
nance made  no  provision  for  the  immediate  exercise  of  local 
self-government,  it  did  establish  principles  which  formed  a 
basis  for  the  healthy  municipal  life  of  a  later  period.  It  or. 
dained  free  trade  in  land,  and  the  law  of  partible  inheritance 
by  which  all  the  children  of  an  intestate  were  equal  heirs. 
Add  to  these  two  the  provision  forever  excluding  slavery, 


Local  Government  in  Illinois.  (j 

and  a  landed  aristocracy  becomes  impossible — a  citizenship 
of  small  freeholders  is  infallibly  guaranteed.  Among  other 
rights  forever  confirmed  to  the  people  by  this  enlightened 
Charter  of  1787,  we  find  freedom  of  opinion  and  worship, 
trial  by  jury,  the  benefit  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  the 
_  judicial  methods  of  the  common  law,  and  proportionate  repre- 
sentation. 

One  by  one  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  Indiana  were  carved  from 
the  Northwestern  Territory,  till,  in  1800,  Illinois  was  erected 
into  a  territorial  government  under  its  present  name.  In 
1818  it  was  allowed  to  form  a  State  constitution,  and  passed 
from  its  political  wardship  to  the  status  of  a  self-controlling 
commonwealth.  Meantime,  immigration  had  been  almost 
exclusively  directed  to  the  southern  part  of  the  State.  The 
early  French  settlements,  and  Virginia's  temporary  connec- 
tion with  them,  seem  to  have  been  the  determining  influences 
in  producing  a  fact  which  is  the  key  to  much  of  the  legisla- 
tive history  of  the  State,  viz.,  that  the  southern  half  of  the 
State  was  settled  earliest,  and  that  these  pioneers  were  from 
Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  the  Carolinas.  It  was  they  who 
formed  the  Constitution  of  1818,  and  the  instrument  hears 
witness  to  the  origin  of  its  authors.  It  is  true  that  these 
sturdy  frontier-men  were  not  from  aristocratic  ranks  of 
Southern  society.  They  may  be  said  to  represent  that  re- 
vival of  democracy  and  of  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  spirit  which 
the  second  war  with  England  awakened  in  the  lower  classes 
of  the  South;  and  their  exodus  to  the  free  soil  of  the  wilder- 
ness may  be  characterized  as  a  protest  against  the  semi-feud- 
alism that  was  crushing  them  in  Virginia.  Nevertheless. 
they  were  Southern  men,  accustomed  to  Southern  forms  of 
government,  and  intensely  prejudiced  against  anything  that 
savored  of  Xew  England. 

At  the  time  of  its  admission  to  the  Union,  Illinois  was  di- 
vided into  fifteen  large  counties.  The  Constitution  of  1818, 
and  laws  made  pursuant  to  it,  placed  the  entire  business 
management  of  each  count}'  in  the  hands  of  a  court  of  three 
County  Commissioners.  We  have  here  a  reproduction  of  the 
Virginia  Court,  with   two  important  differences,  however: 


10  Local  Government  in  Illinois. 

First,  these  Commissioners  were  elected  by  the  people  of  the 
county;  and,  second,  by  a  process  of  differentiation,  this  Illi- 
nois Court  had  no  judical  functions,  the  county  judiciary 
being  made  a  distinct  tribunal.  The  people  also  chose  in 
every  county  ;i  sheriff,  coroner,  clerk,  treasurer,  surveyor,  and 
recorder.  The  Commissioners  appointed  election  judges,  road 
supervisors,  and  overseers  of  the  poor,  dividing  the  county 
into  districts  for  these  purposes.  Every  election  precinct  was 
entitled  to  two  justices  of  the  peace,  who  were  appointed  by 
the  Governor  of  the  State.  After  1826,  however,  the  people 
of  each  precinct  were  allowed  to  elect  their  justices.  The 
Commissioners  had  a  narrow  range  of  discretionary  power, 
but  there  was  no  power  given  to  communities  to  control 
local  affairs,  or  to  enact  by-laws  in  promotion  of  neighbor- 
hood interests. 

But  even  at  this  time  there  had  been  planted  in  Illinois, 
and  throughout  the  whole  West,  a  germ  capable,  under  right 
conditions,  of  developing  a  highly  organized  township  system. 
In  dividing  and  designating  the  public  domain,  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  had  early  adopted  the  system  of  survey 
into  bodies  six  miles,  square,  and  had  given  these  divisions 
the  New-England  name  of  toicnships.  For  purposes  of  record 
and  sale,  each  township  was  divided  into  thirty-six  sections 
a  mile  square,  and  these  were  further  subdivided.  Every 
man  held  his  land  by  a  deed  which  reminded  him  that  his 
freehold  was  part  of  a  township,  and  there  is  much  even  in  a 
name.  But  further  than  this,  the  United  States  had  given  to 
the  people  of  every  township  a  mile  of  land,  the  proceeds  of. 
which  should  be  a  permanent  township  school-fund.  To 
give  effect  to  this  liberal  provision,  the  State  enacted  a  law 
making  the  township  a  body  corporate  and  politic  for  school 
purposes,  and  authorizing  the  inhabitants  to  elect  school 
officers  and  maintain  free  schools.  Here,  then,  was  a  rudi- 
ment of  local  government.  As  New-England  township  life 
grew  up  around  the  church,  so  western  localism  finds  its 
nucleus  in  the  school  system.  What  more  natural  than  that 
the  county  election  district  should  soon  be  made  to  coincide 
with  the  school  township,  with  a  school-house  for  the  voting- 


Local  Government  in  Illinois.  11 

place?  or,  that  justices  of  the  peace,  constables,  road  super- 
visors, and  overseers  of  the  poor,  should  have  their' jurisdic- 
tions' determined  by  those  same  township  lines? 

The  admission  of  Missouri  to  the  Union  as  a  slave  State. 
under  the  "  Compromise  Bill"  of  1820,  seems  to  have  turned 
the  tide  of  southern  migration  toward  that  quarter;  while 
from  that  time  the  free  State  of  Illinois  began  to  receive  con- 
stant and  strong  accessions  from  New  England  and  New 
York.  The  northern  counties  particularly  were  filled  with 
swarms  from  the  eastern  hive.  There  resulted  a  sectional 
bitterness  and  strife  in  legislative  councils,  northern  ideas 
gradually  hecoming  dominant.  The  struggle  culminated  in 
the  convention  which  met  in  1847  to  revise  the  constitution, 
and  in  good  measure  ceased  with  the  adoption  of  the  revised 
instrument  the  following  year.  This  constitution  met  the 
question  of  local  government  with  a  compromise.  It  provided 
that  the  Legislature  should  enact  a  general  law  for  the  poli- 
tical organization  of  townships,  under  which  any  county 
might  act  whenever  a  majority  of  its  voters  should  so  deter- 
mine. Under  the  Act  accordingly  passed  by  the  General 
Assembly,  all  the  northern  counties  proceeded  promptly  to 
adopt  township  organization,  while  the  southern  counties 
retained  their  old  county  system  described  above.  This  was 
one  of  those  happy,  but  unusual,  compromises  whereby  both 
parties  gain  their  principle.  It  was  rendered  possible  by 
the  distinctly  sectional  line  of  demarcation  which  separated 
the  two  elements  of  population.  In  Ohio  and  Indiana  the 
same  diverse  elements  of  population  had  been  more  thor- 
oughly commingled;  and  their  "compromise  system"'  was 
the  outcome  of  mutual  concession — a  hybrid  affair,  in  which 
township  organization  was  very  limited  and  imperfect. 

The  form  of  township  government  adopted  by  the  Illinois 
Legislature  was  a  modification  of  the  New  England  system, 
changes  being  made  to  meet  western  conditions.  It  may  be 
regarded  as  the  model  system  of  the  Union.  One  by  one  the 
southern  counties  of  the  State  have  become  converted  to  it, 
until  at  the  present  time  only  about  one-fifth  of  the  one 
hundred  and  two  counties  in  Illinois  cling  to  the  old  county 


12  Local  Government  in  Illinois. 

system.  "Without  comment  on  the  minute  changes  made  in 
the  course  of  thirty  years'  legislation,  we  may  pass  to  a  view 
of  the  local  institutions  as  they  are  now  in  operation. 

When  the  people  of  a  county  have  voted  to  adopt  the 
township  system,  the  commissioners  proceed  to  divide  the 
county  into  towns,  making  them  conform  with  the  congres- 
sional or  school  townships,  except  in  special  cases.  Every 
town  is  invested  with  corporate  capacity  to  be  a  party  in 
legal  suits,  to  own  and  control  property,  and  to  make  con- 
tracts. The  annual  town-meeting  of  the  whole  voting  popu- 
lation, held  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  April  for  the  election  of 
town  officers  and  the  transaction  of  miscellaneous  business, 
is  the  central  fact  in  the  town  government.  The  following 
is  a  summary  of  what  the  people  may  do  in  town-meeting: 
They  may  make  any  orders  concerning  the  acquisition,  use, 
or  sale  of  town  property ;  direct  officers  in  the  exercise  of 
their  duties;  vote  taxes  for  roads  and  bridges,  and  for  other 
lawful  purposes;  vote  to  institute  or  defend  suits  at  law; 
legislate  on  the  subject  of  noxious  weeds,  and  offer  rewards 
to  encourage  the  extermination  of  noxious  plants  and  ver- 
min ;  regulate  the  running  at  large  of  cattle  and  other  ani- 
mals ;  establish  pounds,  and  provide  for  the  impounding  and 
sale  of  stray  and  trespassing  animals;  provide  public  wells 
and  watering-places;  enact  by-laws  and  rules  to  carry  their 
powers  into  effect ;  impose  fines  and  penalties,  and  apply 
such  fines  in  any  manner  conducive  to  the  interests  of  the 
town. 

The  town  officers  are  a  supervisor,  who  is  ex-offieio  over- 
seer of  the  poor,  a  clerk,  an  assessor,  and  a  collector,  all  of 
whom  are  chosen  annually;  three  commissioners  of  high- 
ways elected  for  three  years,  one  retiring  every  year;  and 
two  justices  of  the  peace  and  two  constables,  who  hold  office 
for  four  years. 

On  the  morning  appointed  for  the  town-meeting,  the  voters 
assemble,  and  proceed  to  choose  a  moderator,  who  presides 
for  the  day.  Balloting  for  town  officers  at  once  begins,  the 
supervisor,  collector,  and  assessor  acting  as  election  judges. 
Every  male  citizen  of  the  United  States  who  is  twenty-one 


Local  Government  in  Illinois.  13 

years  old,  who  has  resided  in  the  State  a  year,  in  the  county 
ninety  days,  and  in  the  township  thirt}-  days,  is  entitled  to 
vote  at  town-meeting;  but  a  year's  residence  in  the  town  is 
required  for  eligibility  to  office.  At  two  o'clock,  the  mode- 
rator calls  the  meeting  to  order  for  the  consideration  of  busi- 
ness pertaining  to  those  subjects  already  enumerated.  Every- 
thing is  done  by  the  usual  rules  and  methods  of  parliamentary 
bodies.  The  clerk  of  the  town  is  secretary  of  the  meeting, 
and  preserves  a  record  of  all  the  proceedings.  Special  town- 
meetings  may  be  held  whenever  the  supervisor,  clerk,  and 
justices,  or  any  two  of  them,  together  with  fifteen  voters, 
shall  have  filed  with  the  clerk  a  statement  that  a  meeting  is 
necessary,  for  objects  which  they  specify.  The  clerk  then 
gives  public  notice  in  a  prescribed  way.  Such  special  meet- 
ings act  only  upon  the  subjects  named  in  the  call. 

The  supervisor  is  both  a  town  and  a  county  officer.  If'  is 
general  manager  of  town  business,  and  is  also  a  member  of 
the  County  Board,  which  is  composed  of  the  supervisors  of 
the  several  towns,  and  which  has  general  control  of  the 
county  business.  As  a  town  officer,  he  receives  and  pays 
out  all  town  money,  excepting  the  highway  and  school 
funds.  His  financial  report  is  presented  by  the  clerk  at 
town-meeting.  The  latter  officer  is  the  custodian  of  the 
town's  records,  books,  and  papers. 

The  highway  commissioners,  in  their  oversight  of  roads 
and  bridges,  are  controlled  by  a  large  body  of  statute  law. 
and  by  the  enactments  of  the  town-meeting.  Highways  are 
maintained  by  taxes  levied  on  real  and  personal  property, 
and  by  a  poll  tax  of  two  dollars,  exacted  from  every  able- 
bodied  citizen  between  the  ages  of  twenty-one  and  fifty.  It 
may  be  paid  in  money,  or  in  labor  under  the  direction  of 
the  commissioners.  One  of  the  commissioners  is  constituted 
Treasurer,  and  he  receives  and  pays  out  all  road  moneys. 

The  supervisor  acts  as  overseer  of  tin1  poor.  The  law 
leaves  it  to  be  determined  by  the  people  of  a  county  whether 
the  separate  towns  or  the  county  at  large  shall  assume  the 
care  of  paupers.  When  the  town  has  tin-  matter  in  charge, 
the  overseer  generally  provides  for  the  indigent  by  a  system 


14  Local  Government  in  Illinois. 

of  out-door  relief.  If  the  county  supports  the  poor,  the 
County  Board  is  authorized  to  establish  a  poor-house  and 
farm  for  the  permanent  care  of  the  destitute,  and  temporary 
relief  is  afforded  by  the  overseers  in  their  respective  towns, 
at  the  county's  expense. 

The  Board  of  Town  Auditors,  composed  of  the  super- 
visor, the  clerk,  and  the  justices,  examine  all  accounts  of 
the  supervisor,  overseer  of  poor,  and  highway  commission- 
ers; pass  upon  all  claims  and  charges  against  the  town,  and 
audit  all  bills  for  compensation  presented  by  town  officers. 
The  accounts  thus  audited  are  kept  on  tile  by  the  clerk  for 
public  inspection,  and  are  reported  at  the  next  town  meeting. 

The  supervisor,  assessor,  and  clerk  constitute  a  Board  of 
Health.  The  clerk  records  their  doings,  and  reports  them  at 
the  meeting  of  the  town. 

~Ho  stated  salaries  are  paid  to  town  officers.  They  are 
compensated  according  to  a  schedule  of  fixed  fees  for  specific 
services,  or  else  receive  certain  per  diem  wages  for  time  ac- 
tually employed  in  official  duties.  The  tax-collector's  emo- 
lument is  a  percentage. 

The  Justices  of  the  Peace  have  jurisdiction  in  minor 
criminal  cases,  in  civil  suits,  when  the  amount  in  controversy 
does  not  exceed  the  value  of  two  hundred  dollars,  and  in  all 
actions  brought  for  violation  of  city- or  town  ordinances. 

For  school  purposes,  the  township  is  made  a  separate  and 
distinct  corporation,  with  the  legal  style,  "  Trustees  of 
Schools  of  Township  — ,  Range  — ,"  according  to  the  num- 
ber by  which  the  township  is  designated  in  the  Congressional 
Survey.  The  School  Trustees,  three  in  number,  are  usually 
elected  with  the  officers  of  the  civil  township  at  town-meet- 
ing, and  hold  office  for  three  years.  They  organize  by 
choosing  one  of  their  number  President,  and  by  selecting 
some  fourth  person  for  School  Treasurer,  who  shall  also  be, 
ex-officio,  their  secretary.  They  have  authority  to  divide  the 
township  into  school  districts.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  township  is  exactly  six  miles  square.  It  is  the  custom 
to  divide  it  into  nine  districts  two  miles  square,  and  to  erect 
a  school-house  near  the  centre  of  each.     As  the  county  roads 


Local  Government  in  Illinois.  15 

are  in  most  instances  constructed  on  the  section  lines — and 
therefore  run  north  and  south,  east  and  west,  at  intervals  of 
a  mile — the  traveller  expects  to  find  a  school-house  at  every 
alternate  crossing.  The  people  who  live  in  these  suit-dis- 
tricts elect  three  school  directors,  who  control  the  school  in 
their  neighborhood.  They  are  obliged  to  maintain  a  free 
school  for  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  nine  months  in 
every  year,  are  empowered  to  build  and  furnish  school- 
houses,  hire  teachers,  and  fix  their  salaries,  and  determine 
what  studies  shall  be  taught.  They  may  levy  taxes  on  all 
the  taxable  property  in  their  district,  but  are  forbidden  to 
exceed  a  rate  of  two  per  cent,  for  educational  or  three  per 
cent,  for  building  purposes.  They  certify  to  the  township 
school  treasurer  the  amount  they  require,  and  it  is  collected 
as  hereafter  described.  This  last-named  officer  holds  all 
school  funds  belonging  to  the  township,  and  pays  out  on  the 
order  of  the  Directors  of  the  several  districts. 

The  township  funds  for  the  support  of  schools  arise  from 
three  sources.  (1)  The  proceeds  of  the  school  lands  given 
by  the  United  States  Government,  the  interest  from  which 
alone  may  be  expended.  (2)  The  State  annually  levies  on 
all  property  a  tax  of  one  fifth  of  one  per  cent.,  which  con- 
stitutes a  State  school  fund,  and  is  divided  among  the  coun- 
ties in  the  ratio  of  their  school  population,  and  is  further 
distributed  among  the  townships  in  the  same  ratio.  (3)  Any 
amount  needed  in  addition  to  these  sums  is  raised  by  taxa- 
tion in  the  districts  under  authority  of  the  directors. 

All  persons  between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty-one  years 
are  entitled  to  free-school  privileges.  Women  are  eligible 
to  every  school  office  in  the  State,  and  are  frequently  chosen 
directors. 

The  average  Illinois  county  contains  sixteen  townships. 
The  county  government  is  established  at  some  place  desig- 
nated by  the  voters,  and  called  the  "county  seat.''  The 
corporate  powers  of  the  county  are  exercised  by  the  County 
Board,  which  in  counties  under  township  organization  is 
composed  of  the  several  town  supervisors,  while  in  other 
counties  it  consists  of  three   commissioners  elected   by   the 


16  Local  Government  in  Illinois. 

people  of  the  whole  county.  The  Board  manage  all  county 
property,  funds,  and  business  ;  erect  a  court-house,  jail,  poor- 
house,  and  any  necessary  buildings;  levy  county  taxes,  audit 
all  accounts  and  claims  against  the  county,  and,  in  counties 
not  under  township  organization,  have  general  oversight  of 
highways  and  paupers.  Even  in  counties  which  have  given 
the  care  of  highways  to  the  townships,  the  County  Board 
may  appropriate  funds  to  aid  in  constructing  the  more  im- 
portant roads  and  expensive  bridges.  The  proceedings  of 
the  Board  are  recorded  by  the  County  Clerk,  who  also  draws 
orders  on  the  Treasurer  for  all  claims  which  they  have 
audited  and  allowed.  In  his  office,  official  bonds  and  other 
important  papers  are  filed  and  recorded. 

The  treasurer,  sheriff,  coroner,  and  surveyor  are  county 
functionaries,  who  perform  the  duties  usually  pertaining  to 
their  offices.  The  County  Superintendent  of  Schools  has 
oversight  of  all  educational  matters,  advises  town  trustees 
and  district  directors,  and  collects  complete  school  statistics, 
which  he  reports  to  the  County  Board,  and  transmits  to  the 
State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 

Every  county  elects  a  judge,  who  has  full  probate  juris- 
diction, and  appoints  administrators,  executors,  and  guar- 
dians. He  also  has  jurisdiction  in  civil  suits  at  law  involv- 
ing not  more  than  $1,000,  in  such  minor  criminal  cases  as 
are  cognizable  by  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  may  entertain 
appeals  from  justices'  or  police  courts.  The  State  is  divided 
into  thirteen  judicial  districts,  in  each  of  which  the  people 
elect  three  judges,  who  constitute  a  Circuit  Court.  The  tri- 
bunal holds  two  or  more  sessions  annually  in  each  county 
within  the  circuit,  and  is  attended  at  every  term  by  a  grand 
and  a  petit  jury.  It  has  a  general  original  jurisdiction,  and 
hears  appeals  from  the  County  Judge  and  from  Justices' 
Courts.  To  complete  the  judicial  system  of  the  State,  there 
are  four  Appellate  Courts  and  one  Supreme  Court  of  last 
resort. 

Taxes,  whether  for  State,  county,  or  town  purposes,  are 
computed  on  the  basis  of  the  assessment  made  by  the 
Town  Assessoi,  and  are  collected  by  the  Town  Collector. 


Local  Government  in  Illinois.  17 

The  assessor  views  and  values  all  real  estate,  and  requires 
from  all  persons  a  true  list  of  their  personal  property.  The 
assessor,  clerk,  and  supervisor  constitute  a  Town  Equalizing 
Board,  to  hear  complaints,  and  to  adjust  and  correct  the 
assessment.  The  assessors'  books  from  all  the  towns  then 
go  before  the  County  Board,  who  make  such  corrections  as 
shall  cause  valuations  in  one  town  to  bear  just  relation  to 
valuations  in  the  others.  The  County  Clerk  transmits  an 
abstract  of  the  corrected  assessment  of  the  county  to  the 
Auditor  of  State,  who  places  it  in  the  hands  of  a  State 
Board  of  Equalization.  This  board  adjusts  valuations  be- 
tween counties.  All  taxes  are  estimated  and  collected  on 
this  finally  corrected  assessment.  The  State  authorities,  the 
county  board,  the  town  supervisors,  the  highway  commis- 
sioners, the  township  school  trustees,  and  the  proper  offi- 
cers of  incorporated  cities  and  villages,  all  certify  to  the 
county  clerk  a  statement  of  the  amount  they  require  for 
their  several  purposes.  The  clerk  prepares  a  collection  book 
for  each  town,  explaining  therein  the  sum  to  be  raised  for 
each  purpose.  Having  collected  the  total  amount,  the  col- 
lector disburses  to  each  proper  authority  its  respective  quota. 

In  all  elections,  whether  for  President  of  the  United 
States,  representatives  of  Congress,  State  officers,  or  county 
officers,  the  township  constitutes  an  election  precinct,  and 
the  supervisor,  assessor,  and  collector  sit  as  the  election 
judges. 

The  words  "town"  and  "township,"  as  they  occur  in  this 
article,  signify  a  territorial  division  of  the  county,  incorpo- 
rated for  purposes  of  local  government.  There  remains  to  he 
mentioned  a  very  numerous  class  of  municipal  corporations- 
known  in  Illinois  statutes  as  "villages"  and  "cities."  A 
minimum  population  of  three  hundred,  occupying  territory 
not  more  than  two  square  miles  in  extent,  may,  by  popular 
vote,  become  incorporated  as  a  "  village,"  under  provisions 
of  the  general  law.  Six  village  trustees  arc  chosen,  and  they 
make  one  of  their  number  president",  thereby  conferring  on 
him  the  general  duties  of  a  mayor.  At  their  discretion,  the 
trustees  appoint  a  clerk,  a  treasurer,  a  street  commissioner,  a 


18  Local  Government  in  Illinois. 

village  constable,  and  other  officers,  as  they  deem  necessary. 
The  people  may  elect  a  police  magistrate,  whose  jurisdiction 
is  equal  to  that  of  a  justice  of  the  peace.  When  a  territory 
not  more  than  four  square  miles  in  extent  contains  at  least 
one  thousand  inhabitants,  the  general  law  provides  for  or- 
ganization and  incorporation  as  a  u  city."  Its  government 
will  consist  of  a  mayor  and  aldermen,  who  constitute  the 
city  council.  Cities  whose  population  does  not  exceed  three 
thousand,  are  divided  into  three  wards,  each  ward  electing 
two  aldermen.  The  number  of  wards  and  aldermen  increases 
in  the  ratio  of  population.  Mayor  and  aldermen  are  elected 
for  two  years.  The  mayor  has  a  veto  on  the  ordinances  of 
the  council,  though  he  may  be  overruled  by  a  two-thirds  vote. 
The  council  controls  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  which  are  spe- 
cified in  the  statutes  of  the  State.  They  manage  the  city's 
finances,  appropriating  money,  levying  taxes,  and  borrowing 
money — though  the  city's  total  indebtedness  may  never  ex- 
ceed five  per  cent,  of  its  assessed  .valuation.  Their  authority 
extends  to  streets,  gas  and  water  supply,  parks,  harbors, 
markets,  cemeteries,  public  amusements,  the  liquor  traffic, 
police  and  police  courts,  jails  and  workhouses,  the  fire  de- 
partment, and  numerous  other  city  interests.  They  have 
power  to  make  ordinances,  and  affix  penalties,  not  exceeding 
six  months'  imprisonment,  or  a  fine  of  two  hundred  dollars. 
Other  city  officers  vary  with  the  population,  and  need  not  be 
enumerated. 

These  incorporated  villages  and  cities  remain  parts  of  the 
civil  township,  and  share  in  the  burdens  and  privileges  of 
town  government.  They  also  remain  parts  of  the  school 
township,  and  are'  subject  to  the  general  provisions  of  the 
school  law,  excepting  that  in  school  districts  containing 
more  than  two  thousand  inhabitants  the  three  district  direc- 
tors are  superseded  by  a  board  of  education  consisting  of  six 
members,  and  of  three  additional  members  for  every  ten 
thousand  of  additional  population.  Such  districts  must 
support  schools  from  six  to  ten  months  in  the  year,  may  be 
divided  into  sub-districts,  and  may  employ  a  superintendent 
of  schools. 


Local  Government  in  Illinois.  19 

Such  is  a  synopsis  of  local  self-government  in  Illinois; 
and  such,  with  more  or  les^  important  differences,  are  the 
minor  political  institutions  of  nearly  every  State  in  the 
Union.  Without  a  high  conception  of  their  influence  no 
just  estimate  of  the  American  character  is  possible.  They 
have  been  the  training-school  for  popular  rule  and  represent- 
ative institutions.  They  have  acquainted  the  masses  with 
principles  of  practical  politics,  and  have  given  them  that 
"  habit  of  political  debating  and  acting  which  is  essential  to 
the  training  of  intelligent  and  useful  citizens."  The  town- 
ship system,  Old  England's  best  gift  to  the  nation,  has  always 
been  the  groundwork  and  basis  of  democracy  in  America. 


LOCAL  SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


Few  perhaps  fully  realize  the  importance  of  a  comprehen- 
sive study  of  local  institutions.  The  centralizing  tendencies 
of  the  present  time  are  so  strong,  that  the  attention  of  the 
student  of  political  science  is  apt  to  he  concentrated  upon 
federal  rather  than  on  local  authority.  He  is  prone  to  over- 
look the  fact  that  the  nation  is  a  highly  composite  organism 
of  which  the  state,  the  county,  and  the  township,  are  sub- 
ordinate, but  very  essential  members.  He  is  liable  to  forget 
that  an  inadequate  or  improper  performance  of  functions  by 
the  latter  is  attended  by  an  infusion  of  disorder,  which  in- 
terrupts the  harmonious  workings  of  the  whole. 

The  scope  of  the  present  paper  will  not  extend  beyond  a 
sketch  of  those  three  departments  of  local  management 
embraced  under  the  heads  of  Rates  and  Levies,  Roads  and 
Bridges,  and  the  Poor.  The  early  administration  of  colonial 
justice  has  already  been  treated  in  an  excellent  essay  on  the 
"Courts  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  17th  Century,"  by  Mr.  Law- 
rence Lewis,  Jr.,  while  the  question  of  Public  Schools  will 
be  reserved  for  future  discussion. 

Before  proceeding  to  give  a  minute  description  of  Local 
Self-Government  as  at  present  administered  in  the  Quaker 
State,  we  shall  briefly  consider  its  institutional  development. 
Institutions  are  not  the  creations  of  a  single  mind  nor  the 
products  of  a  separate  age.  They  represent  a  growth,  an 
evolutionary  process.  They  are  the  great  unities  of  history. 
They  progress  as  the  social  order  changes,  and  we  must  dili- 
gently study  their  varying  stages  of  development  to  intelli- 
gently comprehend  their  present  character. 

In  the  first  place,  we  shall  portray  the  method  of  local 
administration  which  obtained  when  the  Duke  of  York 
possessed  the  territory  which  now  comprises  the  States  of 
20 


Local  Self-Government  in  Pennsylvania. 


21 


New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  part  of  New  Jersey. 
We  venture  to  do  so  because  of  the  interest  such  a  sketch 
will  afford  from  an  historical  point  of  view,  and  also  because 
it  will  furnish  an  excellent  parallel  to  the  later  system  of 
Pennsylvania  under  Proprietary  government.  Moreover,  the 
Duke's  "Book  of  Lawes,"  with  few  exceptions,  formed  the 
legal  basis  of  the  proceedings  of  the  courts  upon  the  Dela- 
ware after  the  year  1G7G.1  We  shall  speak  more  particularly 
of  these  courts  in  relation  to  their  legislative  character  in  a 
subsequent  part  of  the  present  paper.  They  claim  our  atten- 
tion because  they  possessed  not  only  judicial  functions,  but 
exercised  in  addition  an  important  control  over  local  affairs, 
during  the  years  which  immediately  preceded  the  arrival  of 
William  Perm. 

The  administration  of  the  Duke  of  York  was  a  close 
imitation  of  the  English  system.  It  recognized  the  old 
municipal  divisions  of  ridings,  towns,  and  parishes.  The 
chief  officer  of  the  former  was  a  High  Sheriff,  while  the 
interests  of  the  latter  were  presided  over  by  a  Constable,  and 
a  Board  of  Overseers,  at  first  eight,  but  afterwards  four  in 
number.  The  sheriff  was  selected  yearly  by  the  governor  from 
three  nominees  presented  to  him  by  the  justices  of  the  last 
sessions.  The  town  officers  were  directly  the  choice  of  the 
people.  The  constable  was  chosen  for  one  year;  the  overseers 
for  two,  one-half  of  them  retiring  annually.  Under  this 
primary  colonial  regime  the  principal  unit  of  local  govern- 
ment was  the  town  or  parish.  Each  town  bad  its  own  peculiar 
constitution  and  by-laws,  which,  when  sanctioned  by  the 
court  of  sessions,  became  the  basis  of  its  own  administration. 
Such  constitution  and  laws  were  framed  by  the  constable  and 
a  majority  of  the  overseers,  and  local  observance  became 
binding  upon  local  inhabitants.     Every  town   had  likewise 

1  That  these  enactments  were  in  force  in  10TG  is  clear  by  the  following. 
Tt  was  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  "  Hook  of  Lawes"  that,  "  no  jury  shall 
exceed  the  number  of  seaven  nor  be  under  six  unless  in  special  causes  upon 
Life  and  Death."  This  year,  at  Whorekill,  in  a  suit  about  some  tobacco,  "the 
president  of  the  court  and  six.  of  seven  of  the  jury,  acknowledged  their  pro- 
ceedings to  be  erroneous,  etc." — Hazard,  Annals  of  Pennsylvania,  p.  425. 

15 


22  Local  Self- Government  in  Pennsylvania. 

its  own  court,1  held  at  convenient  intervals,  whore  small  cases 
were  heard  and  decided  by  its  officers.  The  constable  and 
overseers  were  also,  cx-qfficio,  church-wardens,  and  in  this 
capacity  were  the  ecclesiastical  governors  and  moral  guar- 
dians of  the  parish.  They  not  only  made  provision  in  the 
rates  for  the  support  of  the  church  and  minister,  but  it  w -as 
their  further  duty  to  make  known  to  the  semi-annual  court 
of  sessions  all  unpunished  transgressions  of  the  moral  code.2 
There  were  two  taxes,  the  public  charge,  the  proceeds  of 
which  were  applied  to  the  maintenance  of  the  general  civil, 
military,  and  ecclesiastical  authority ;  and  the  town  rate, 
which  went  to  the  support  of  purely  local  government. 
Both  were  levied  and  collected  in  exactly  the  same  manner. 
Upon  the  receipt  of  a  "  precept"  from  the  sheriff  of  the  riding, 
the  constable  and  overseers  of  the  various  towns  made  out  a 
list  of  taxable  persons  and  appraised  all  real  and  personal 
property.  These  statements  were  returned  to  the  sheriff,  who, 
having  examined  and  certified  them,  transmitted  them  to  the 
governor.  If  any  inhabitant  thought  he  had  been  unfairly 
dealt  with  in  his  assessment,  he  could  make  complaint  to  the 
court  of  sessions,  and  there  have  his  grievance  redressed. 
The  law  which  governed  collections  reads  as  follows:  "The 
constable  shall  appoint  a  day  and  place  and  give  reasonable 
warning  to  the  inhabitants  to  bring  in  their  proportions, 
upon  which  every  man  so  warned  shall  duely  attend  to  bring 
in  his  rates,  etc."3     Constables  were  held  responsible  for  the 

1  The  "Towne  Court"  of  the  Duke's  Laws  is  a  very  ancient  institution. 
It  is  the  court  of  the  tithing  or  township  transformed.  It  represents  the 
survival  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  '•  tun-gemot."  The  establishment  of  these 
local  self-governing  communities  in  the  English  colonies  of  America,  is  sim- 
ply a  repetition  of  the  course  pursued  by  our  Saxon  forefathers,  in  their  set- 
tlement of  Britain. 

2  This  kind  of  censorship  was  exercised,  during  the  first  few  years  of  Pro- 
prietary rule,  by  the  Grand  Jury.  For  an  example,  see  Watson,  Annals  of 
Philadelphia,  vol.  ii.  p.  91. 

The  following  presentment  at  the  Chester  Co.  Court,  in  1683,  though  of  a 
quite  different  character,  is  somewhat  amusing:  "The  Grand  Jury  present 
want  of  rings  to  the  snouts  of  swine." 

3  Duke  of  York's  Laws,  pp.  49,  50. 


Loccll  Self- Government  in  Pennsylvania.  23 

collection  of  the  rates,  and  were  empowered  to  recover  arrear- 
ages by  process  of  law,  even  after  their  term  of  oiiice  had 
expired.  When  the  full  amount  of  the  levy  could  not  he 
obtained,  the  deficiency  was  supplied  by  an  extra  assessment. 
Produce  was  received  instead  of  money,  in  payment  of  the 
town  and  public  taxes.  Xone  were  exempt  from  taxation 
except  justices  of  the  peace  and  indigent  persons,  and  even 
the  justices  were  subsequently  made  liable  for  the  town  levy. 
Local  taxation  was  designed  chiefly  for  the  support  of  the 
poor  and  for  the  maintenance  of  parochial  churches.1  The 
needy  and  the  helpless  of  every  parish  were  the  especial 
charge  of  the  church  wardens.  They  were  doubtless  con- 
sidered more  in  the  light  of  an  ecclesiastical  than  a  civil  re- 
sponsibility. Under  this  regime,  we  see  that  county  govern- 
ment in  the  form  we  now  know  it,  did  not  practically  exist. 
The  riding,  it  is  true,  came  in  as  a  division  between  the  town 
and  the  province,  but  it  had  little  or  no  significance  as  a 
political  factor.  It  simply  represented  an  aggregation  of 
towns  or  parishes,  and  possessed  no  organized  system  of 
municipal  government.  That  such  was  the  case  is  shown  by 
the  following  law  regarding  lunatics.  "That  in  regard  the 
conditions  of  distracted  persons  may  bee  both  xevy  charge- 
able and  troublesome,  and  so  will  [trove  too  great  a  burthen 
for  one  towne  alone  to  bearc,  each  towne  in  the  rideing  where 
such  person  or  persons  shall   happen  to  bee,  are  to  contribute 

1  "Churches  shall  bee  built  within  three  years  after  this  assize,  to  which 
end  a  Towne  Kate  may  bee  made,  to  begin  with  thisyea.ro." — Duke  of  York's 
Laws,  p.  63. 

Upon  the  Delaware,  ministers  seem  to  have  been  supported  by  voluntary 
subscriptions.  The  petition  of  the  Court  of  New  Castle  to  the  <rovernor  in 
KITS  was  to  the  effect  that  he  would  "  grant  leave  and  permission  to  obtain 
and  have  an  orthodox  minister,  to  bo  maintained  by  the  gilt  of  the  free  ami 
willing  givers.'- — Hazard.  Annals,  p.  4f>.">.  This  rcquosl  wasp-anted.  /'</',/. 
p.  458. 

Ministers  who  were  supported  out  of  the  "  Towne  Hate."  elsewhere  in  the 
Duke's  dominions,  could  not  always  have  been  in  the  established  chunh. 
since,  according  to  the  report  ot  Hishop  Compton  in  KJSI).  there  were  at 
that  time  on\y  four  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  Kugland  in  North  America. 
—  Hazard.  Annals,  p.  409. 


24  Local  Self-Governmtnt  in  Pennsylvania. 

towards  the  charge  which  may  arise  upon  such  occasions."1 
Each  town,  therefore,  helped  to  bear  the  burden,  but  the  con- 
tributions were  made  distinctly  and  separately,  and  not  as 
individual  quotas  to  a  permanent  county  rate.  The  town  or 
parish  was  of  much  greater  importance  than  in  later  times. 
It  dealt  with  the  leading  questions  of  local  government,  and 
its  constable  and  overseers  formed  a  legislative  body  whose 
acts,  as  we  have  already  seen,  could  only  be  disallowed  by 
judicial  negation.2 

After  the  conquest  of  the  Dutch  settlements  upon  the 
Delaware  by  Sir  Robert  Carre,  in  1664,  it  was  agreed  that 
the  magistrates  then  in  power  should  be  continued,  for  a  time 
at  least,  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  civil  jurisdiction.  In 
1668  we  have  the  record  of  the  constitution  of  a  court,  con- 
sisting of  a  schout  and  five  counsellors,  appointed  tor  two 
years.3  English  laws  were  not  immediately  imposed  upon 
the  people,  but  it  was  ordained  that  the  Duke's  enactments 
"be  showed  and  frequently  communicated  to  the  said  coun- 
sellors, and  all  others,  to  the  end  that  being  therewith  ac- 
quainted, the  practice  of  them  also  in  convenient  time  be 
established."4  The  result  thus  gradually  aimed  at  was  finally 
consummated  by  the  precept  of  1672,  which  declared  "Eng- 
lish laws  to  be  established  in  the  town  and  river.  The  office 
of  schout  to  be  converted  into  sheriff  for  the  corporation  and 
river,  to  be  chosen  annually."8  In  1676  a  proclamation  from 
Governor  Andross  set  forth  that  the  Duke's  "Book of  Lawes," 
with  the  exception  of  the  enactments  regarding  constables' 

1  Duke  of  York's  Laws,  p.  64. 

2  "The  Constable  by  and  with  the  consent  of  five  at  least  of  the  overseers 
for  the  time  being,  have  power  to  drdaine  such  and  so  many  peculier  Con- 
stitutions as  are  necessary  to  the  welfare  and  improvement  of  their  Towne 
and  if  any  inhabitants  shall  neglect  or  refuse  to  observe  them,  the  Constable 
and  overseers  shall  have  power  to  Levie  (such)  fines  by  distress;  Provided 
that  they  (the  constitutions)  bee  not  of  a  Criminall  Nature  and  that  every 
such  peculier  Constitution  be  confirmed  by  the  Court  of  Sessions  within  four 
months  (later  by  the  next  Court)  after  the  making  thereof." — pp.  50,  51. 

3  Hazard,  Annals,  p.  371.  *  Ibid.  p.  372. 
6  Ibid.  p.  397. 


Local  Self- Government  in  Pennsylvania.  25 

courts,1  county  rates,  and  a  few  other  matters  which  pertained 
particularly  to  Long  Island,  should  form  the  basis  of  civil 
administration  along  the  Delaware.  There  were  at  this  time 
three  general  courts  in  operation  :  one  at  Xew  Castle,  one  at 
Upland,  and  one  at  Whorekill.  These  establishments  were  not 
only  of  a  judicial  nature,  but  were  also  endowed  with  legis- 
lative authority.  They  could  enact  "all  necessary  by-laws 
or  orders  (not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  the  governor),  to  be 
binding  for  the  space  of  one  whole  year,"2  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  local  matters  within  their  respective  districts. 
They  ha'd  power  to  make  "  fitting  rates  for  highways,  poor, 
and  other  necessaries.''3  This  levy,  on  account  of  convenience, 
generally  took  the  form  of  a  poll-tax  ;4  the  constables  making 
out  the  list  of  "tydables."5  It  was  the  duty  of  the  sheriff  to 
make  collections.6  No  rates  could  be  laid  until  the  sanction 
of  the  governor  had  been  obtained.7  For  the  better  manage- 
ment of  roads  and  bridges,  the  court  appointed  yearly  a 
number  of  men  to  be  overseers  of  highways  and  viewers  of 
fences.8 

The  court  also  ordered  the  building  and  repair  of  churches9 
and  selected  the  church  wardens.10  No  mention  is  made  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  poor  were  taken  care  of,  but  it  is 
altogether   likely  that  they  were  the  charge  of  the  church 

1  It  is  reasonably  certain,  that,  notwithstanding  Gov.  Andross'  proclama- 
tion, constables'  courts  were  in  full  operation  upon  the  Delaware.  One  had 
been  established  at  New  Castle  in  1672  (Hazard,  Annals,  p.  39G-7),  and 
we  have  no  record  showing  that  it  ceased  to  exercise  its  powers  after  the 
above-mentioned  ordinance  was  promulgated.  On  the  contrary,  the  order 
issued  in  1G77,  that  the  commons  were  to  be  regulated  by  the  town,  shows 
that  NewCastle  still  had  some  kind  of  separate  government.  In  1078, 
permission  was  given  to  Elseburgh,  a  place  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
justices  of  New  Castle,  to  have  a  constable's  court.  (Hazard,  Annals,  p. 
458-9.)  The  record  of  the  establishment  of  these  courts  in  America  fur- 
nishes one  more  example  of  the  reproduction  of  English  institutions  upon 
colonial  soil.  The  evidence  of  their  survival  is  a  point  of  some  historical 
interest,  as  it  makes  against  the  idea  of  Stubbs  and  llallam,  who  are  inclined 
to  deny  that  the  petty  constable  ever  possessed  judicial  authority. 

2  Hazard,  Annals,  p.  427.  3  Ibid  p.  441.  '  Ibid.  p.  447. 
5  Ibid.  p.  442.  6  Ibid.  p.  4  17.  7  Ibid.  p.  428. 
8  Ibid.  p.  480.                                      9  Ibid.  p.  407.                ,0  Ibid.  p.  401. 


26  Local  Self-Govamment  in  Pennsylvania. 

wardens,  as  in  New  York.  Though  the  court  had  the  power 
to  lay  a  road-tax,  we  find  no  record  that  such  a  course  was 
pursued.  It  was  the  survival  of  an  old  feudal  custom  in 
England  which  compelled  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  particu- 
lar district  to  work  upon  the  highways  or  else  to  suffer 
certain  pecuniary  penalties  in  case  they  failed  to  fulfil  the 
requirement.  This  system  was  in  vogue  in  the  time  of 
Charles  II.,1  and  we  have  evidence  that  it  also  obtained  in 
Pennsylvania.  "  The  imposition  of  a  fine  of  25  gilders,  for 
neglecting  to  work  on  the  roads,  was  among  the  last  acts  of 
Upland  Court  under  the  Duke's  government."2 

The  tenth  section  of  the  charter  to  William  Penn  gave 
him  the  power  to  divide  "  the  country  and  islands  into  towns, 
hundreds3  and  counties."  By  a  subsequent  clause  he  also  re- 
ceived authority  to  erect  manors,4  and  to  introduce  thereon 

1  See  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  22  Charles  II.,  ch.  12,  §  10,  for  fines  imposed. 
In  case  the  labor  required  by  statute  was  not  sufficient  to  complete  all  neces- 
sary repairs,  a  tax  could  be  imposed  to  defray  the  expense  of  finishing  the 
remaining  work. — Ibid.  §11. 

2  Smith,  History  of  Delaware  Co.,  p.  124. 

3  We  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  evidence  to  show  that  hundreds  ever 
existed  as  local  divisions  in  Pennsylvania,  although  they  were  common  in 
Maryland  and  Delaware. 

4  Mr.  F.  D.  Stone,  Librarian  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  has 
called  our  attention  to  what  may  have  been  a  manor  in  full  operation  upon 
a  similar  basis  to  those  in  England.  It  is  cited  in  Dr.  George  Smith's 
History  of  Delaware  County.  It  bore  the  name  of  the  Welsh  Barony,  and 
consisted  of  a  tract  of  land  comprising  about  40,000  acres.  The  settlers 
were  Welsh  Quakers,  and  amongst  other  immunities  granted  to  them  by  their 
charter,  was  the  privilege  to  have  "  our  bounds  and  limits  by  ourselves, 
within  the  which  all  causes,  Quarrels,  crimes,  and  titles  [shall  be]  tryed  and 
wholly  determined  by  officers,  magistrates  [and]  jurors  of  our  own  language, 
which  are  our  equals." 

Tradition  has  it  that  a  certain  stone  building  situated  upon  the  manor  of 
Moreland,  was  used  in  early  times  as  a  prison-house  for  the  refractory 
tenants  and  servants  of  the  first  Chief  Justice.  The  whole  subject  is  an 
exceedingly  interesting  one,  and  will  claim  the  attention  of  the  writer  in  a 
future  paper.  The  subject  of  the  Manorial  System  of  Maryland  is  under 
investigation  by  Mr.  John  Johnson,  a  graduate  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity. Mrs.  Martha  J.  Lamb  has  undertaken  the  "Historic  Manors  of 
New  York." 


Local  Self-Government  in  Pennsylvania.  27 

the  English  system  of  manorial  government.  We  have  seen 
that  the  tendency  of  the  Duke  of  York's  laws  was  to  centre 
local  government  in  the  towns.  Under  the  Proprietary  ad- 
ministration a  totally  different  order  of  things  was  instituted. 
The  county  now  became  the  element  of  primal  importance. 
In  fact  it  may  be  safely  asserted,  that,  during  nearly  the  entire 
portion  of  the  first  half-century  of  the  government  of  Penn 
and  his  descendants,  the  town  had  little  or  no  significance 
as  a  political  division.  The  county  court  of  general  sessions 
was  the  real  centre  of  authority,  and  all  local  affairs  were 
administered  by  officers  which  it  commissioned.1  Though 
the  town  was  afterwards  admitted  to  a  share  of  municipal 
government,  it  has  never  quite  regained  the  position  it  held 
previous  to  1682.  We  shall  further  notice,  in  passing,  how 
some  matters  were  gradually  handed  over,  conditionally,  to 
township  control. 

By  an  act  passed  in  1682,  which  was  subsequently  declared 
a  fundamental  law,  it  was  enjoined  that  no  separate  tax  at 
any  time  should  continue  longer  than  one  year.  The  objects 
for  which  county  taxes  were  raised,  were  "  for  the  support  of 
the  Poor,  building  of  prisons,  or  repairing  them,  paying  the 
salary  of  members  belonging  to  the  assembly,  paying  for 
Wolf's  Heads,  expence  of  Judges,  with  many  other  necessary 
charges."2  It  was  the  duty  of  the  justices  of  the  court  of 
sessions,  with  the  assistance  of  the  grand  jury,  to  estimate 
the  general  county  expenses,  and  to  make  an  assessment,  upon 
the  basis  of  the  provincial  tax,  to  defray  them.  The  enact- 
ment of  1696  inaugurated  a  much  more  convenient  system. 
It  provided  that  six  assessors  should  be  annually  chosen  for 
each  county,  to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  justices  and 
grand  jury,  in  determining  public  charges.  This  body  could 
levy  a  rate  of  one  penny  in  the  pound,  and  six  shillings  />,  r 
caput  upon  all  freemen  between  16  and  60  years  of  age.     The 

1  "The  court  about  this  time  (IG8.">)  appointed  the  justices,  constables, 
road  overseers,  etc." — Watson,  Annals  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  i.  p.  .'int.  Seven 
years  later,  in  one  county  at  least,  the  road  overseers  were  elected  by  the 
people. — See  Records  of  Chester  Co.  Court  for  lu'Xl. 

2  Laws  of  the  Province  of  Penna.,  1G82-1700,  p.  -33. 


28  Local  Self- Government  in  Pennsylvania. 

assessors  heard  and  decided  all  appeals.  The  Proprietary 
and  his  deputies  were  alone  exempt  from  taxation.  It  was 
the  duty  of  the  various  constables  to  bring  the  assessors  ;i 
list  of  the  taxable  inhabitants  of  their  districts,  together  with 
an  accurate  valuation  of  property  liable  to  taxation.  The 
assessment  board  determined,  the  required  number  of  collec- 
tors and  appointed  them.  The  county  treasurer  was  also  an 
appointee  of  this  body.  It  seems  that  the  above  method  for 
raising  county  rates  did  not  prove  satisfactory,  since  nume- 
rous supplemental  acts  were  passed  to  make  provision  for  the 
collection  of  arrearages. 

In  1724  a  new  system  was  introduced,  which,  though  not 
unlike  the  former  in  its  essential  features,  yet  prescribed  a 
mode  of  procedure  somewhat  different  from  that  recognized 
by  previous  law.  It  provided  for  the  election  of  three  com- 
missioners to  perform  the  functions  which  had  hitherto  be- 
longed to  the  court  of  sessions,  with  a  few  additional  duties. 
The  commissioners  issued  the  "  precepts"  to  the  constables, 
constituted  a  tribunal  for  trying  appeals,  inaugurated  pro- 
ceedings against  delinquent  collectors,  and  imposed  pecuniary 
penalties  upon  the  county  treasurer,  and  the  assessors  for 
neglect  of  duty.  To  facilitate  the  collection  of  rates,  each 
county  was  divided  into  a  definite  number  of  districts.  The 
limit  to  the  assessment  provided  for  by  this  enactment,  was 
fixed  at  three  pence  in  the  pound,  and  a  nine  shillings  poll- 
tax. 

The  Revolution  did  not  change  the  form  of  local  govern- 
ment, which  had  obtained  immediately  before  the  year  1776. 
There  was  no  distinct  difference  between  the  administration 
of  the  province  and  of  the  commonwealth.  But  in  relation 
to  the  topic  at  present  under  consideration,  an  advance  was 
made  towards  the  present  system  in  1779.  In  that  year  the 
assessment  board,  consisting  of  the  three  commissioners  and 
six  county  assessors,  appointed1  two  assistant  assessors  for  each 
township,  to  discharge  the  duties  which  had  hitherto  devolved 
upon  the  constables,  in  making  the  returns  of  taxable  inhabit' 

1  These  officers  were  afterwards  elected  by  the  people. 


Local  Self -Government  in  Pennsylvania.  29 

ants  and  property.  By  this  act  stringent  measures  were  also 
adopted  for  collecting  unpaid  rates.  If  settlement  was  not 
made  within  thirty  days,  the  delinquent's  goods  could  be  sold  ; 
and  if,  after  three  months'  time,  his  obligations  had  not  been 
met,  bis  real  estate  could  be  seized  and  disposed  of  by  the 
commissioners  to  satisfy  the  claim.  The  office  of  clerk  of  the 
commissioners,  or  county  clerk,  which  still  exists,  was  first 
inaugurated  at  this  time.  Supplemental  legislation  this  same 
year- enacted,  that  the  owners  and  not  the  occupiers  of  real 
estate  should  be  taxed.  Afterwards  a  proviso  was  introduced 
which  caused  all  local  rates  to  be  assessed  upon  the  basis  of 
the  last  State  tax.  The  principle  of  the  division  of  labor  was 
carried  out  in  making  the  assessment,  each  county  assessor, 
with  the  two  assistants,  instead  of  the  whole  board,  perform- 
ing this  duty  for  every  separate  district.  Collectors  were 
now  appointed  by  the  commissioners  alone.  A  return  of  all 
county  levies  was  required  to  be  made  annually  to  the  general 
assembly. 

In  early  colonial  times  the  management  of  roads  and 
bridges  was  vested  in  the  county.  All  public  highways 
were  laid  out  by  order  of  the  governor  and  council,1  while 
private  roads,  connecting  with  them,  and  cart-ways  leading 
to  landing-places,  were  opened-up  at  the  instance  of  the  court 
of  quarter  sessions,2  if  the  viewers  had  previously  made  a 
favorable  report  upon  the  projected  enterprise.  Roads  and 
bridges  were  made  at  the  expense  of  the  county;  but  it  was 
not  unusual  for  a  lottery3  to  be  established  to  liquidate  the 
cost  of  the  undertakings.     The  court  named  the  overseers. 

1  Colonial  Records,  vol.  i.  p.  163. 

2  The  court  gave  the  order  to  proceed  with  the  work,  after  the  grand  jury 
had  presented  the  need  of  a  new  road.  Smith  (Hist.  Del.  Co.,  ]>.  1(13)  quotes 
from  the  Chester  County  Court  records  the  following  :  "  The  mad  from  Darby 
to  Haverford  to  be  laid  out  by  the  grand  jury  and  other  neighbors."  In 
1699,  six  viewers  were  appointed  to  do  work  of  this  kind  ;  or  rather  to  make 
a  report  upon  proposals  regarding  new  roads. 

3  Lotteries  were  often  made  use  of  to  raise  funds  to  open  mads,  construct 
bridges,  and  build  churches.  For  legislation  authorizing  these  establish- 
ments, see  Laws  of  Pennsylvania. 


30  Local  Self-Government  in  Pennsylvania. 

and  these  officers  were  responsible  for  the  good  repair  of  all 
highways  within  their  territorial  limit.  Every  freeholder 
was  compelled  when  summoned  to  work  upon  the  roads, 
under  penalty  of  a  line  if  he  refused  to  obey.  Later  enact- 
ments transferred  highways  from  county  to  township  super- 
vision, directing  tlmt  the  latter  should  assume  all  financial 
burdens  entailed  in  their  management.  The  overseers  or 
supervisors  were  thenceforth  township  officers,  and  two  were 
elected  annually  for  each  municipality.  They  were  em- 
powered to  levy  a  road  tax,  within  certain  limits,  after 
having  obtained  the  requisite  permission  from  two  justices 
of  the  peace.  They  could  also  hire  laborers  to  repair  high- 
ways and  bridges  if  they  thought  fit,  instead  of  summoning 
the  inhabitants  to  do  the  work  as  heretofore. 

The  Poor  question  has  occupied  the  attention  of  the  law- 
makers of  Pennsylvania  to  a  considerable  extent;  and  much 
legislation  is  to  be  found  upon  the  subject  among  the  acts  of 
the  general  assembly.  In  early  times  numerous  experiments 
were  tried,  but  the  law  of  1771  seems  to  have  been  the  one, 
which,  on  the  whole,  yielded  the  most  satisfactory  results. 
It  does  not  difler  very  materially  from  the  present  poor  law 
of  the  State.  At  an  earlier  period  charity  had  been  dispensed 
at  the  instance  and  discretion  of  the  county  court;  the  funds 
being  supplied  out  of  the  regular  county  rate.  The  poor  tax 
had  preference  over  all  others,  and  was  first  paid  in  the  dis- 
bursement of  the  moneys.  A  curious  expedient  was  resorted 
to  to  prevent  undeserving  persons  from  receiving  public  sup- 
port. Every  recipient  of  relief  was  obliged  to  wear  a  badge 
"with  a  large  Roman  (P)  together  with  the  first  Letter  of 
the  name  of  the  county,  city,  or  place,  whereof  such  poor 
person  is  an  inhabitant,  cut  either  in  red  or  blue  cloth."1 

1  It  was  customary  in  England,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  punishment,  to 
mark  criminals  with  the  initial  letter  of  the  crime  for  which  they  had  been 
convicted.  This  proceeding  was  also  followed  in  Pennsylvania.  A  part  of 
the  sentence  against  Long  Finne,  for  his  rebellious  acts,  was  that  he  should 
be  "  branded  on  the  face  with  the  letter  R."  Hazard,  Annals,  p.  378.  See 
also  Records  of  Chester  Court,  January  1,  1693,  for  the  punishment  accorded 
to  a  woman  who  had  been  found  guilty  of  fornication. 


Local  Self-  Governm  en  t  in  Pen n  sylva  n  la.  3 1 

The  act  of  1771  provided  for  the  appointment  of  two  over- 
seers in  each  township,  by  the  justices  of  the  peace,  at  a  yearly 
meeting  specially  convened  for  the  purpose.  These  officers 
could,  with  the  authority  of  two  justiecs,  levy  a  three-pennv 
rate  on  property,  and  a  six  shillings  poll-tax  as  often  as  was 
thought  advisable.  The  amount  thus  -raised  was  employed 
to  provide  subsistence,  shelter,  and  employment  for  all  those 
whom  misfortune  had  made  a  burden  to  society.  The  tax 
was  recoverable  by  ordinary  process  of  law,  and  was  levied 
on  the  same  basis  as  the  county  dues.  T)ie  overseers  were 
responsible  for  the  collection  of  the  amount  assessed,  and  if 
they  refused  to  pay  over  moneys  in  their  possession,  they 
were  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  punished  with 
imprisonment.  They  were  required  to  keep  an  account  of  all 
receipts  and  expenditures,  and  their  books  were  audited  by 
three  freeholders  annually  chosen  by  the  people.  A  list  of 
the  poor  was  kept  on  record,  and  an  order  From  a  justice  of 
the  peace  was  necessary  for  the  inscription  of  new  names 
therein.  Strongly  protective  measures  were  adopted  against 
the  growth  of  pauperism,  as  for  example,  the  requirements 
for  gaining  a  legal  settlement  in  a  township,  and  the  restric- 
tions attached  to  the  removal  of  the  poor  from  one  district  to 
another.  ]STew-comers  had  to  bring  with  them  certificates, 
and  householders  must  give  notice  of  the  arrivals  of  guests 
coming  from  any  place  outside  of  the  province,  except  Europe. 
Any  one,  to  become  legally  settled,  must  have  been  an  office- 
holder for  one  year,  or  must  have  resided  in  the  same  locality 
at  least  two  years,  and  contributed  to  the  poor  fund.  Widows 
were  deemed  settled  in  the  same  place  as  their  former  hus- 
bands, and  indented  servants  must  have  performed  one  year 
of  service  in  some  particular  locality  to  fulfil  the  required 
conditions  of  residence.  All  having  near  relatives  who  were 
paupers,  were  compelled  by  the  province  to  support  them,  it 
in  a  position  to  do  so.  Notwithstanding  all  this  defensive 
legislation,  and  despite  the  influence  of  these  well-timed 
measures,  it  would  appear  that  the  demands  upon  public 
charity  were  augmented  instead  of  diminished.  Complaints 
were  made  from  time  to  time  that  the  means  tor  supporting 


32  Local  Self-Government  in  Pennsylvania. 

the  poor  were  entirely  inadequate,  and  in  1779,  an  act  was 
passed  limiting  the  rate  at  seven  shillings  and  six  pence  in 
the  pound,  and  at  not  more  than  six  pounds,  and  not  less 
than  three  pounds  per  poll.1 

The  Present  System. 

Local  self-government  in  Pennsylvania  at  the  present  time 
affords  a  peculiarly  interesting  study,  representing  as  it  does 
a  condition  of  affairs  in  which  neither  the  town  polity  of 
New  England  nor  the  county  administration  of  the  South, 
forms  the  decidedly  predominating  element.  It  occupies  the 
middle-ground  between  these  two  opposing  phases  of  local 
life.  In  the  Southern  States  the  county  is  the  more  impor- 
tant factor,  and  its  subdivisions  are  such  only  in  name,  exer- 
cising but  little  control  over  their  own  affairs.  In  New 
England,  on  the  contrary,  the  highest  political  vitality  is  to 
be  found  in  the  town.  The  system  of  Pennsylvania  aims  at 
a  partition  of  powers.  The  officers  of  the  township  assume 
the  management  of  local  roads  and  highways,  and  in  some 
counties  provide  also  for  the  support  of  the  pauper  popula- 
tion. But  while  they  have  the  power  to  impose  a  tax  for 
these  purposes,  rates  can  only  be  levied  upon  the  basis  of  the 
last  adjusted  county  assessment,  and  the  law  prescribes  certain 
limits  beyond  which  they  cannot  go.     Furthermore,  no  pro- 

'  An  explanation  of  this  seemingly  high  rate  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact, 
that  the  continental  currency  had  that  year  reached  a  very  low  state  of 
depreciation.  There  has  been  preserved  in  the  Library  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Historical  Society,  a  copy  of  a  publication  called  the  United  States  Maga- 
zine, bearing  the  date  of  1779,  for  which  the  subscription  rates  were  $3.00 
per  copy  or  $24.00  a  year!  It  is  possible  that  the  apparently  high  price 
charged  for  this  periodical  may  have  been  due,  in  some  degree,  to  its  wide- 
spread popularity,  and  to  the  extraordinary  demand  indicated  by  the  follow- 
ing lines,  taken  from  the  dedicatory  ode  : — 

"Statesmen  of  assembly  great ; 
Soldiers  that  on  danger  wait ; 
Farmers  that  subdue  the  plain  ; 
Merchants  that  attempt  the  main  ; 
Tradesmen  who  their  labors  ply  ; 
These  shall  court  thy  company; 
These  shall  say,  with  placid  mien, 
Have  you  read  the  magazine?" 


Local  Self-Government  in  Pennsylvania.  33 

vision  is  made  for  any  such  democratic  institution  as  a  town- 
meeting,  where  the  people  nun-  come  together  to  vote  appro- 
priations, and  to  frame  by-laws  for  their  own  government. 
Xeither  is  the  township  represented  by  a  supervisor  upon  the 
county  board,  as  in  Xew  York,  Michigan,  Illinois,  and  other 
of  the  Northern  and  Xorth- Western  States.  The  count v  is 
the  leading  local  unit,  and,  under  the  commonwealth,  may 
be  said  to  wTield  the  largest  share  of  political  [tower.  It 
regulates  affairs  directly,  and  its  officers  are  responsible  to 
the  people  for  the  exercise  of  administrative  control.  The 
chief  authority  is  vested  in  three  commissioners,  who  are 
elected  for  a  term  of  three  years.  In  addition  to  duties 
which  will  be  subsequently  mentioned,  this  board  is  required 
to  transact  the  county  business,  to  keep  a  record  of  its  pro- 
ceedings, to  publish  annually  a  correct  account  of  all  receipts 
and  expenditures  of  the  previous  year,  to  make  an  annual 
statement  to  the  secretary  of  the  commonwealth  of  all  sums 
paid  for  the  support  and  maintenance  of  justice,  and  to 
have  charge  of  the  erection  and  control  of  the  county  public 
buildings.  Each  county  has  also  a  treasurer,  a  surveyor,  and 
three  auditors.  It  is  not  necessary  to  define  the  duties  of  these 
functionaries.  We  do  not  include  in  this  enumeration  those 
offices  which  pertain  to  the  administration  of  justice,  as  it  is 
our  intention  to  confine  this  discussion  to  purely  municipal 
matters. 

A  board  of  supervisors,  generally  two  or  three  in  number 
constitutes  the  highest  township  authority.  But  this  nume- 
rical limit  is  not  absolute,  since  the  law  provides  for  an  in- 
crease at  the  pleasure  of  the  electors.  The  term  of  office  of 
this  governing  board  extends  over  a  period  of  three  years. 
There  are  also  an  assessor,  two  assistant  assessors  (in  triennial 
years),  a  town-clerk,  a  treasurer,  three  auditors,  and  two  over- 
seers of  the  poor,  where  the  poor  are  a  township  charge. 
Under  a  constitutional  provision,  the  election  of  township 
officers  takes  place  annually  on  the  third  Tuesday  of  Feb- 
ruary. 

The  county  rates  and  levies  are  made  in  the  following 
manner.     Every  third  year  the  board  of  commissioners  issues 


34  Local  Self- Government  in  Pennsylvania. 

a  notice  to  the  assessors  of  the  different  townships,  requiring 
them  to  return,  within  a  certain  specified  time,  a  correct  list 
of  the  names  of  all  taxable  persons  residing  within  their  ter- 
ritorial jurisdiction.  The  assessors  and  their  assistants  im- 
mediately proceed  to  make  out  the  required  statement,  and 
to  furnish  also  an  accurate  valuation  of  such  real  and  personal 
property  as  the  law  directs.  Upon  this  basis,  the  commis- 
sioners levy  a  certain  rate  per  centum,  which  rate  is  uniform, 
throughout  the  different  townships.  The  commissioners 
cause  transcripts  of  the  assessments  to  be  prepared  and  fur- 
nished to  each  assessor,  together  with  the  rate  per  centum  of 
the  amount  levied.  They  also  fix  a  day  on  which  appeals 
shall  be  heard.  The  assessor  is  then  required  to  give  notice, 
either  written  or  printed,  to  every  taxable  inhabitant  in 
the  township,  of  the  amount  for  which  he  stands  rated,  and 
to  inform  him  also  of  the  day  set  for  hearing  appeals.  All 
objections  raised  to  the  assessment  are  decided  by  the  com- 
missioners ;  but  if  any  inhabitant  takes  exception  to  their 
ruling,  he  may  present  his  case  for  final  judgment  before  the 
court  of  common  pleas.  The  taxes  thus  levied  are  collected 
by  a  collector  for  each  township,  appointed  by  the  board  of 
commissioners.  The  selection  is  usually  made  in  accordance 
with  the  recommendation  of  the  various  assessors,  though  the 
range  of  choice  is  not  necessarily  limited  to  such  nominees. 

The  State  taxes  are  furnished  through  the  medium  of  the 
several  counties,  and  the  commissioners  perform  the  same 
duties  in  relation  to  their  levy  and  collection,  and  the  same 
proceedings  are  had  regarding  appeals,  as  in  the  case  of 
county  rates. 

The  township  has  the  power  to  lay  certain  rates  indepen- 
dently of  county  authority  or  jurisdiction.  For  instance, 
the  supervisors  are  authorized  to  assess  the  taxables  of  their 
township  for  a  sum  not  exceeding  one  cent  on  the  dollar  upon 
the  valuation  of  their  property,  to  keep  the  roads,  highways, 
and  bridges  in  good  order.  It  is  also  the  duty  of  the  over- 
seers of  the  poor,  where  the  poor  are  in  the  charge  of  the 
township,  to  make  a  similar  provision  for  the  support  of  the 
indigent  and  helpless,  having  first  obtained  the  consent  of 


Local  Self-Government  in  Pennsylvania.  &") 

two  justices  of  the  peace.  These  rates  can  only  he  laid  in 
accordance  with  the  last  adjusted  county  valuation.  The 
township  assessor  aids  in  fixing  the  assessment,  and  collection 
is  made  by  persons  designated  hy  the  supervisors  and  over- 
seers, in  a  meeting  convened  for  the  purpose. 

Roads  and  highways  lying  within  the  boundaries  of  a 
township  are  under  its  management.  They  are  controlled 
hy  the  Supervisors,  and  the  expense  of  their  good  keeping  is 
borne  out  of  the  fund  raised  by  the  above-mentioned  assess- 
ment. It  is  allowable  for  any  person  to  work  out  his  road- 
tax  instead  of  paying  it  in  money.  This  is  usually  done. 
With  this  fact  in  view,  and  with  the  poor  more  generally 
in  the  care  of  the  county,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  tendency 
is  to  reduce  purel}*  township  rates  to  a  minimum.  The  super- 
visors are  also  responsible  for  the  repair  and  renewal  of  all 
causeways  and  small  bridges  situated  on  township  highways. 
If  a  road  forms  the  dividing  line  between  two  townships, 
the  expense  of  its  good  keeping  is  shared  equally  by  the  two 
districts.  When  a  number  of  inhabitants  think  it  is  advisa- 
ble that  a  new  highway  should  be  opened  up,  they  send  a 
petition  to  that  effect  to  the  court  of  quarter  sessions.  This 
judicial  body  at  once  appoints  viewers,  who  proceed  to  in- 
spect the  locality  through  which  it  is  proposed  the  road  shall 
run.  They  make  their  report  to  the  court,  and  if  a  favorable 
view  is  entertained,  the  road  is  confirmed  and  viewed  to 
be  opened.  Damages,  to  be  paid  by  the  county,  may  be 
awarded  for  any  injury  to  property,  even  though  the  owners 
were  petitioners  in  behalf  of  the  project.  Bridges  over 
large  rivers  or  streams,  which  would  entail  more  expense  in 
construction  than  it  is  reasonable  should  be  borne  by  one  or 
two  townships,  are  built  at  the  cost  of  the  county.  Pro- 
ceedings are  instituted  at  the  order  of  the  court  of  quarter 
sessions,  who  act  upon  the  representation  of  the  township 
supervisors,  or  a  petition  of  interested  inhabitants. 

The  poor  are  legally  a  township  charge:  though  their 
care  is  generally  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  county  commis- 
sioners. In  the  latter  event,  the  commissioners,  with  tin; 
approval  of  the  court  of  quarter  sessions,  select  suitable  real 
estate,  and  erect  thereon  a  building  called  a  -•House  lor   the 


36  Local  Self- Government  in  Pennsylvania. 

Destitute."  This  establishment  is  used  for  tlie  accommoda- 
tion of  all  poor  persons  who  have  gained  the  required  legal 
settlement.  Three  citizens,  one  of  whom  is  chosen  every 
year,  constitute  a  board  of  directors.  This  body  manages 
the  internal  economy  of  the  institution.  It  also  has  authority 
to  bind  oijjt  children  as  apprentices  and  to  provide  employ- 
ment for  the  able-bodied  poor.  The  directors  furnish  a 
yearly  financial  estimate  to  the  commissioners,  so  that  due 
provision  may  be  made  for  a  poor-fund  in  levying  the 
county  rate.  The  board  is  further  empowered  to  make 
any  suggestions  which  they  may  deem  expedient,  for  im- 
provements or  alterations  in  the  institution.  It  may  grant 
relief,  to  a  limited  extent,  to  needy  persons  who  are  not  in- 
habitants of  the  almshouse.  The  judges  of  the  various  courts 
of  the  county,  and  ministers  of  the  gospel  of  all  denomina- 
tions are,  ex  officio,  visitors  of  the  institution.  In  this  capacity 
they  are  entitled  to  examine  into  its  general  condition,  and 
to  scrutinize  the  books  of  the  hoard  of  directors.  As  soon  as 
the  poor  become  the  charge  of  the  county,  the  office  of  over- 
seer in  the  different  townships  is  abolished. 

When  the  poor  are  under  the  control  of  the  township,  their 
care  is  entrusted  to  two  overseers,  and  their  maintenance 
provided  for  by  means  of  a  small  tax.  The  overseers  are 
obliged  to  furnish  relief  to  all  applicants  for  assistance,  who 
have  gained  a  legal  settlement  in  the  township.  Aid  must 
also  be  given  to  those  who  have  not  a  legal  settlement,  until 
they  can  be  removed  to  their  former  place  of  residence.  The 
duties  of  the  overseers  in  relation  to  binding  out  children  as 
apprentices,  and  finding  suitable  work  for  those  capable  of 
active  employment,  are  similar  to  those  devolving  upon  the 
county  directors.  No  one  is  entitled  to  be  placed  upon  the 
poor-book  without  an  order  from  two  justices  of  the  peace. 
Every  house-keeper  receiving  a  transient  poor  person  is  re- 
quired to  give  notice  to  the  overseers  within  ten  days  after 
such  reception,  or,  in  case  of  default,  to  become  responsible 
for  all  further  maintenance. 

A  few  isolated  and  comparatively  unimportant  exceptions 
may  occur  to  the  method  of  local  administration  as  set  forth 
in  the  preceding  pages.     These  need  not  demand  our  present 


Local  Self- Government  in  Pennsylvania.  37 

consideration.  A  general  likeness  pervades  the  municipal 
organization  of  the  State,  and  the  foregoing  sketch  repre- 
sents, as  accurately  as  possible,  that  system  which  prevails 
throughout  the  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 

Passing  in  rapid  review  the  facts  which  have  just  claimed 
our  attention,  we  cannot  help  noticing  the  liberal  methods 
which,  from  the  very  first,  existed  in  the  administration  of 
local  affairs.  The  control  over  matters  pertaining  to  self- 
government  was  not  given  to  individual  isolated  commu- 
nities, as  in  New  England;  nor  was  it  concentrated  in  the 
larger  unit,  the  county,  as  in  Virginia  and  Maryland.  And 
yet  the  system  of  Pennsylvania  was  quite  as  democratic  as 
the  one,  and  as  healthfully  centralized  as  the  other.  The 
power  to  make  by-laws  for  municipal  management,  as  well 
as  the  authority  to  legislate  for  the  entire  province,  was,  from 
the  beginning,  in  the  hands  of  the  people  or  their  delegates. 
All  public  officers  were  either  elected  directly,  or  chosen  by 
those  who  were.  Penn  himself  could  not  appoint  even  a 
justice  of  the  peace.  The  words  of  the  historian  Bancroft  are 
strictly  true:  "But  for  the  hereditary  office  of  Proprietary, 
Pennsylvania  had  been  a  representative  democracy." 

The  present  system  of  local  self-government  does  not  belong 
entirely,  nor  even  largely,  to  the  period  of  the  commonwealth. 
It  has,  of  course,  been  improved  and  modified  by  enactments 
since  1776,  but,  as  a  whole,  it  is  simply  the  continuation  of 
provincial  beginnings.  The  central  idea  upon  which  it  is 
based  has  been  the  same  throughout.  That  idea  is  the  in- 
alienable right  of  the  people  to  a  control  over  their  own 
affairs,  and  may,  doubtless,  to  some  extent,  be  considered  as 
the  practical  realization  of  the  words  of  Tenn:  "  if  the  people 
want  anything  which  will  make  them  happy,  1  shall  readily 
grant  it."  The  great  principle  of  popular  sovereignty  was 
virtually  recognized  by  the  illustrious  founder  of  this  State 
in  every  department  of  its  provincial  administration;  and 
upon  this  foundation  principle  the  political  superstructure  of 
Pennsylvania  has  slowly  and  surely  risen,  until  now  it  may 
well  be  called  the  keystone  of  the  arch  of  American  Liberty. 

Johns   Hopkins  Univkrsity, 

Mav.  1882.  c 


IV 


SAXON  TITHINGMEN 


IN    AMERICA 


"  Iraposuerunt  justiciaries  super  quosque  x  frithborgos,  quos  decanos  possumus  dicere, 
Anglice  autem  tyenthe-heved  vocati  sunt,  hoc  est  caput  x." —  Law  of  Edward  the  Confessor. 

"  Praesit  autem  singulis  hominum  novenis  decimus." — Law  of  Henry  I. 

"A  Tything-man  in  each  Manor,  a  Constable  in  each  Hundred."  —  Bacon,  Lines  of 
Maryland,  16S8. 

"See  to  it  that  there  bee  one  man  appointed  to  inspect  the  ten  families  of  his  neigh- 
bours, which  tything  man  or  men  ....  haue  power,  in  the  absence  of  the  constable  to 
apprehend  .  .  .  . "  —  Colonial  Law  of  Massachusetts,  1677. 

Tithing-Men  are  still  annually  chosen  in  the  Town-Meetings  of  Northampton, 
Massachusetts. —  Town  Records,  1882. 

"The  History  of  Institutions  ....  abounds  in  examples  of  that  continuity  of  life, 
the  realisation  of  which  is  necessary  to  give  the  reader  a  personal  hold  on  the  past  and 
a  right  judgment  of  the  present.  For  the  roots  of  the  present  lie  deep  in  the  past,  and 
nothing  in  the  past  is  dead  to  the  man  who  would'learn  how  the  present  comes  to  be 
what  it  is."  —  Sltibbs.  Constitutional  History  of  England. 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

I  X 

Historical    and    Political    Science 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 

History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present-History. —  Freeman 

IV 

SAXON  TITHING-MEN 

IN    AMERICA 

Read  before  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  October  21, 1881 

By  HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Ph.  D. 


B  A  LT  I  MO  K  K 

Published  by  tiik  Johns  Hopkins  Inivkkmm 

February,  ls^ 


JOHN  MURPHY  A  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


T  I  T  H  I  N  G  M  E  N 

By  Hkubeut  B.  Adams. 


The  office  of  Tithingman  has  never  been  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained. New  England  traditions  describe  this  institution 
only  in  its  later  ecclesiastical  form,  which  was  by  no  means 
its  primitive  character  even  in  this  country.  The  oldest 
people  in  Xew  England  remember  the  Tithingman  as  a  kind 
of  Sunday  Constable,  whose  special  duty  it  was,  in  the  old 
parish  meeting-house,  to  quiet  the  restlessness  of  youth  and 
to  disturb  the  slumbers  of  age.  Many  are  the  tales  which 
grandfathers  can  tell  concerning  this  ancient  watchman  of  the 
congregation,  who  saw  to  it  that  all  persons  were  attentive 
except  himself,  and  who  occasionally  broke  the  peace  by 
sharply  rapping  with  his  tune-book  and  pointing  at  some 
whispering  boy,  or  else  by  patrolling  the  aisles  to  arouse 
sleeping  saints  by  means  of  his  black  pole,  tipped  at  one 
end  with  brass.1      In  some  churches  there  were  two  or  three 


1  This  was  the  old  English  Tipstaffe,  an  emblem  of  the  constabulary 
office,  and  representing  the  person  of  the  Kinic-  We  shall  consider  tlie 
subject  of  the  Tipstaffe  or  Black  Rod  more  particularly  in  a  paper  on 
"  Constables."  By  the  Province  laws  of  Massachusetts  (I.  1  .">."».  :52'.t) 
Tithingmcn  were  required  to  "have  a  black  static  of  tun  feel  lonsr. 
tipped  at  one  end  with  brass  about  three  inches,  as  a  badffe  of  their 
office."  We  find  these  black  staves  mentioned  in  local  town  records.  , . 
g.,  in  the  town  records  of  Salem,  in  Kill!,  i.  147;  in  t  he  town  record-  of 
Groton.  edited  by  Dr.  Green,  i.  11),  Item,  -toe  black  static."  three  shil- 
lings sixpence.  Survivals  of  these  black  wands  have  been  seen  In  the 
writer  in  actual  use  by  special  constables  at  Amherst  College  Commence- 
ments, winch  are  still  held  in  the  old  parish  church.  The  use  of  wand-, 
with  ribbon  tips,  by  ushers,  is  only  an  aesthetic  transformation  <>f  the 
ancient  Tipstaffe.  It  is  said  that  in  some  early  New  Kmrland  parishes, 
the  Tithinjjman's  rod  was  tipped  at  one  en  I.  not  with  brass,  but  with  a 
squirrel's  tail.  This  end  was  used  in  awakening  women.  The  other 
end  was  a  deer's  hoof,  which  carried  sharp  conviction  to   men  and  boys. 

1 


Tithingmen. 

of  those  grim,  vigilant  Tithinjraien.  It  is  said  that  one  or 
two  of  them  sometimes  sat  under  the  very  shadow  of  the 
pulpit,  facing  the  congregation.1  But  more  usually  one 
Tithingman  sat  at  each  door  of  the  meeting-house  to  keep 
out  dogs,  and  one  often  sat  in  the  gallery  to  keep  in 
boys.2 

From  original  town  records  it  appears  that  it  was  the  duty 
of  the  early  New  England  Tithingman,  not  merely  to  pre- 
serve order  in  the  meeting-house,  but  to  see  to  it  that  every 
one  went  to  church.  The  Tithingman  was  a  kind  of  eccle- 
siastical "whipper-in."  After  looking  over  the  congrega- 
tion to  find  if  any  seats  were  vacant,  the  Tithingmen  would 
steal  out  and  explore  the  horse-sheds,  the  adjoining  fields 
and  orchards,  the  inns  and  ordinaries,  and  even  the  houses 
of  the  village,  in  order  to  search  out  skulkers  from  divine 
service.  According  to  the  town  records  of  Salem,  it  is  clear 
that  as  early  as  1644,  in  that  village  at.  least,  two  men  were 
"  appointed  euery  Lord's  day  to  walke  forth  in  the  time  of 
God's  worshippe,  to  take  notice  of  such  as  either  lye  about 
the  meeting-howse  wthout  attending  to  the  word  or  ordi- 
nances, or  that  lye  at  home  or  in  the  fields,  w'thout  giuing 
good  account  thereof,,  and  to  take  the  names  of  such  persons 
&  to  present  them  to  the  Magistrate,  whereby  they  may  be 
accordinglie  proceeded  against." 3 

A  study  of  the  statutes  of  the  mother  country,  of  the 
period  immediately  preceding  the  Puritan  migration,  shows 
that  the  custom  of  enforcing  attendance  upon  church  services 


1  Blood.     History  of  Temple,  N.  II.,  p.  87. 

*  In  the  town  of  Salem,  the  Tithingmen  or  Constables,  used  to  see  to 
it  that  no  boys  escaped  from  church  and  that  no  dogs  slunk  in.  The 
"  Dog  Whipper"  was  a  regular  institution  in  certain  old  English  towns, 
notably  in  Exeter  and  Congleton  (in  Chester).  Mr.  Edward  A.  Free- 
man has  called  our  attention  to  a  curious  law  of  Edgar  (see  Thorpe's 
Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  England,  ii.  251),  whereby  parish  priests 
were  to  see  to  it  that  no  dog  should  enter  church,  nor  yet' more  a  swine, 
if  it  could  possibly  be  prevented  ! 

3  Town  Records  of  Salem,  131,  part  1,  1634-1659,  published  in  the 
Historical  Collections  of  the  Essex  Institute,  second  series,  Vol.  I. 


Tlthhvjntvn. 

was  by  no  means  original  with  the  settlers  of  Now  England. 
By  an  Act1  passed  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  all  people  were 
obliged  by  law  to  "  repaire  every  Sunday"  to  church,  under 
penalty  of  twelve  pence  for  every  absence.  Upon  sufficient 
information,  given  of  course  by  the  Parish  Constable  or 
Tithingman,  the  justice  of  the  peace  issued  a  warrant  to  the 
church  warden  to  distrain  goods,  if  necessary,  in  collecting 
such  parish  tines.  All  servants,  sojourners,  and  strangers 
within  a  man's  gates  were  brought  under  the  operation  of 
this  law,  so  that  the  custom  of  Sunday  inspection  of  every 
household  must  have  been  in  vogue  in  Old  England,  long 
before  it  was  revived  at  Salem.  These  laws  requiring  church 
attendance  are  of  very  ancient  standing.  By  the  first  Act 
of  Elizabeth's  reign,  "  every  person  and  persons  inhabiting 
within  this  Realme — shall  diligentlye  and  faithefully,  having 
no  lawfull  or  reasonable  Excuse  to  be  absent,  endevour  them- 
selves to  resortc  to  theyr  Parishe  Churehe  or  Chapped 
accustomed — upon  every  Sondaye  and  other  dayes  ordeined 
and  used  to  bee  kept  as  Holy  days,  and  ther  tabvde  or- 
derlye  and  soberly  during  the  tyme  of  the  Common  Prayer. 
Preachinges  and  other  Service  of  God — upon  payne  flf 
punishment  by  the  Censures  of  the  Churehe,  and  also  upon 
payne  that  every  person  so  offending  shall  forfeite  for  every 
suche  offence  twelve  pens,  to  be  levied  by  the  Churche- 
wardens  of  the  Parishe  —  to  thuse  of  the  Poore."s  The 
Church  of  England  and  its  Puritan  reformers  can  claim  no 
monopoly  in  this  kind  of  legislation,  for  it  roots  far  back  in 
the  middle  ages  in  the  earliest  Catholic  laws  of  England 
against  irregular  attendance  upon  conventicles  contrary  to 
the  Catholic  faith,  especially  against  the  meetings  of  Lol- 
lards.3 

In  early  New  England,  the  execution  of  the  laws  for  the 


1  Statutes  of  tho  Realm,  4  Jac.  I.  c.  v. 

2  Statutes  of  the  Realm.      1  Eli/,  e.  2.  III.;  c-f.     2:!  Eliz.   c.  i. 
Eli/.   <•-  i. 

■*  Rolls  of  Parliament,  III.,  4ti7,  ">*;•.;   IV..  24. 


TitltilHJIIK'll. 

observance  of  the  Sabbath  in  other  ways  than  church-going 
was  intrusted  to  the  local  Tithingmen.  Travel  on  that  day 
was  strictly  forbidden.  There  arc  many  persons  still  living 
who  can  remember  that  the  parish  Tithingman  once  dis- 
charged the  pious  function  of  stopping  all  unnecessary  riding 
and  driving  on  Sunday.  An  amusing  story  is  told  of  the 
writer's  grandfather,  who  was  Tithingman  for  his  parish  in 
Amherst,  Massachusetts,  and  notoriously  strict  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  office  both  in  church  and  out.  Early  one 
Sabbat!)  morning  he  saw  a  man  driving  past  his  house,  with 
a  little  hair-trunk  in  the  back  end  of  his  wagon.  Sus- 
pecting that  the  man  was  upon  a  journey,  the  Tithingman 
hailed  him  :  "  Sir,  do  you  know  that  travel  on  Sunday  is 
forbidden  by  law?"  "  Yes.  sir,"  said  the  stranger  in  a 
somewhat  melancholy  tone.  The  Tithingman  caught  the 
idea.  "  Of  course,"  he  said,  "in  case  of  sipkness  or  death, 
a  Sabbath  journey  is  sometimes  permitted."  The  traveller 
replied  in  a  subdued  manner,  "  my  wife  is  lying  dead  in  the 
town  just  above  here."  "  Oh,  well,"  said  the  Tithingman, 
"  you  can  drive  on."  The  man  drove  on  a  safe  distance, 
then  looked  back  and  called  out :  ' '  She  has  been  lying  dead 
for  twenty  years  ! " 

The  law  against  Sunday  travel  has  been  rigidly  enforced, 
in  one  way  or  another,  by  Tithingmen,  Constables,  local 
police,  or  local  opinion,  down  to  the  present  da}'  in  many 
parts  of  New  England.  The  late  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg, 
who  made  Mexican  antiquities  his  life  study,  once  told  the 
writer  of  an  unhappy  experience  in  Boston  forty  years  ago, 
in  trying  to  procure  a  carriage  on  the  Sabbath,  for  the  sake 
of  visiting  some  Catholic  dignitary.  But  neither  Catholic 
nor  Protestant  England  has  set  Puritan  New  England  a  liberal 
example  in  the  matter  of  Sunday  laws.  Moncure  D.  Con- 
way, in  a  recent  letter  to  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  nar- 
rates the  serious  difficulty  encountered  by  three  American 
travellers  in  attempting  to  procure  a  Sunday  dinner  in  Lon- 
don, and  that  after  attending  church.     Not  only  are  Sunday 

4 


T.ithingmen. 

accommodations  for  travellers  very  much  restricted  to  this 
day  in  many  parts  of  old  England,  but  travelling  itself  on 
the  Sabbath  has  been  more  or  less  restrained  by  law,  ever 
since  the  time  of  the  Saxon  kings,  in  whose  good  Catholic- 
reigns  Sunday  used  to  begin  on  Saturday  at  sunset,  and 
close  Sunday  evening.1  The  statutes  of  England  at  the 
time  the  Puritans  came  over,  are  full  of  legislation  against 
breach  of  the  Sabbath  by  travellers,  traders,  drovers, 
butchers,  laborers,  boatmen,  wagoners,  and  by  conveyances 
of  every  description. 

From  the  colonial  laws  of  Massachusetts  it  appears  that 
the  functions  of  the  Tithingman  were  not  restricted  to  the 
arrest  of  "  all  Saboath  breakers,"  but  extended  to  the  in- 
spection of  licensed  inns  for  the  sake  of  discovering  "  dis- 
orderly ti piers "  on  the  evening  of  that,  day  or  "  at  any 
other  time"  during  the  week.  He  could  carry  offenders 
before  any  magistrate  and  commit  them  to  prison  "  as  any 
constable  may  doe."  For  Sunday  offenders  was  reserved 
the  special  disgrace  of  imprisonment  in  the  town  "cage*' 
which  was  "  set  up  in  the  market  place."2  Even  by  such 
links  as  these  are  the  towns  of  Xew  England  bound  to 
old  English  parish  life.:t  The  expression  jail-bird  has  some 
significance  in  the  light  of  the  evolution  of  prisons  from 
cages.  The  use  of  the  pillory  and  the  stocks  in  punishment 
for  drunkenness  are  similar  links  of  parish  habit.  The 
very  liquors  that  Xew  England  Tithingnien  were  instructed 
to  seek  out  in  unlicensed  houses  or  to  obtain  a  satisfactory 
account  of  in  regular  inns,  afford  as  suggestive  a  comment- 
ary upon  the  English  origin  of  intemperance  in  New  Eng- 
land as  docs  the  mention  of  beer  in  the  Noise  sagas  of 
Vineland  upon  the  Teutonic  origin  of  the  first  white  settlers 


1  Lingard.  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church.  I., 
309- 1 1 . 

-  Records  of  Massachusetts,  v.  1  .">:!. 

:!  Palgrave,  English  Commonwealth.  An«rlo  Saxon  IVriod.  Vol.  ii..  p. 
clxvi. 


Tithingmep. 

of  America.  "  Strong  beere,  ale,  eider,  perry,1  matheglin,2 
ramme,  brandy,''3  these  things  all  have  a  very  English 
smack.  Legislation  against  the  excessive  use  of  these 
drinks  did  not  be<rin  in  New  England.  The  Puritans  of 
Massachusetts  struggled  against  intemperance  as  did  their 
English  fathers  before  them,  and  in  precisely  the  same  way, 
by  fines  and  penalties,  by  laws  executed  through  "  Con- 
stables, Churchwardens,  Headborough.es,  Tithingmen,  Ale- 
cunners  and  Sydemen,"  as  described  in  the  act  of  the  fourth 
year  of  King  James  I.* 

It  is  perhaps  not  generally  known  that  the  office  of 
Tithingman  in  early  New  England  was  very  like  that  of  a 
parish  constable,  of  which  office,  indeed,  the  former  is  the 
historical  prototype.  In  Massachusetts,  and  elsewhere  in 
New  England,  the  two  institutions  long  continued  to  exist 
side  by  side,  although  as  far  as  local  and  colonial  records 
give  any  decisive  evidence,  Constables  were  appointed  long 
before  Tithingmen.  But  the  latter  is  by  far  the  more 
ancient  office  in  the  mother  country,  and  it  may  have  been 
revived  by  local  hamlets  in  New  England,  years  before  it 
was  formally  recognized  in  town  or  colony  records.  The 
Tithingmen  had  many  functions  in  common  with  Constables. 
Both  endeavored  to  repress  tippling,  gaming,  night-walk- 
ing, strolling,  begging,  roaming  streets  or  fields,  and  idle- 
ness in  general.  They  were  to  see  to  it  that  every  man 
was  about  some  lawful  and  useful  business.     They  restrain- 


1  A  liquor  prepared  from  the  juice  of  pears,  like  cider  from  apples. 

2  A  fermented  liquor  made  of  honey  and  water  boiled  together.  The 
name  Metheglin  is  Welsh  and  is  derived  from  medd  (mead)  and  llyn 
(liquor).  It  is  one  of  those  familiar  household  terms  which  have  come 
down  to  us  from  that  "  exterminated  "  race,  the  Kelts.  Words  like  dad, 
babe,  lad,  lass,  gown,  flannel,  clout,  crock,  cabin,  basket,  bran,  flask, 
mattock,  are  collectively  stronger  evidence  of  Keltic  influences  surviv- 
ing in  Saxon  homes  than  even  the  above  home-made  drink. 

3  Records  of  Massachusetts,  v.  240. 

*  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  4  Jac.  I.  c.  v.  Cf.     I.  Jac.  I.  c.  9. 

<; 


Tithingmen. 

ed  butchers  and  drovers  from  cruelty  to  animals,  and  kept 
boys  and  "  all  persons  from  swimming  in  the  water."  ' 

The  Tithingman  may  be  distinguished  from  the  Constable 
by  the  fact  that  the  former's  duties  related  more  especially 
to  the  control  of  family  life  and  of  the  morals  of  his  neigh- 
borhood. The  Tithingman's  power  came  nearer  home  than 
did  that  of  the  Constable  ;  it  reached  over  the  threshold  of 
every  family  in  the  hamlet;  it  was  patriarchal,  fatherly, 
neighborly,  in  the  strictest  sense.  The  Tithingmen  visited 
("otters  to  see  if  they  kept  Saturday  night.  The  Tithing- 
man saw  to  it  that  family  government  was  maintained  ;  that 
all  single  persons  were  joined  to  some  family  ;  that  children 
and  servants  were  properly  taught  and  trained  at  home  ; 
that  the  same  were  kept  from  all  disorderly,  profligate,  idle, 
uncivil  and  rude  practices  abroad  ;  in  short,  that  the  whole 
community  grew  up  as  one  united  family  in  the  nurture  and 
admonition  of  the  law.2  The  Tithingman  was  the  father  of 
the  hamlet ;  he  felt  himself  personally  responsible  for  the 
character  and  conduct  of  all  households  in  his  neighborhood. 
In  point  of  fact,  the  Tithingman  was  held  strictly  to  account 
by  the  Selectmen,  or  Townsmen,  for  the  presence  of  any 
new-comer  into  his  hamlet.  By  a  town  order  of  Dor- 
chester, in  the  year  1(378,  it  was  required  "that  the  tithing- 
men in  their  seuerall  presincts  should  inspect  all  inmats 
that  doe  come  into  each  of  their  presincts,  either  single  per- 
sons or  famelies,  and  to  giue  spedy  information  therof  vnto 
the  Select  men  from  time  to  time  or  to  some  of  them  that 
order  may  be  taken  about  them."'' 


1  Sec  references  to  next  paragraph. 

*  Records  of  Massachusetts,  v.,  241.  Acts  and  Resolves  of  the  Pro- 
vince of  Massachusetts  nay,  i.,  58,  59,  CO.  Hudson's  History  of  Lexing- 
ton, <;!>. 

3  Fourth  report  of  the  Record  Commissioners  of  Boston.  Dorchester 
Town  Records,  22;$.  Compare  the  duty  of  constables  as  stated  in  the 
statute  of  Winchester  (12.S5)  to  ••present  all  such  as  do  lod.ire  stranirers 
in  uplandish  towns,  for  whom  they  will  not  answer."  Statutes  of  the 
Realm,  i..  ".is. 


riiltingmen. 

The  Tithingmen  were  not  appointed  by  the  Selectmen, 
and  possibly  they  were  not  originally  chosen  in  town  moot- 
ing, but  elected  by  neighborhoods  or  hamlets.1  By  an  Act 
of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  in  1079  "  the  select- 
men of  each  touue  take  care  that  ty thing  men  be  annually 
chosen  in  their  seuerall  precincts  of  their  most  prudent  & 
discreet  inhabitants,  &  sworne  to  the  faithful  I  dischardge  of 
their  trust."  *  Tithingmen  were  empowered,  like  Constables, 
to  assist  one  another  in  their  several  precincts,  "  and  to  act 
in  one  anothers  jlrecincts  w'th  as  full  power  as  in  their 
oune,  and  yet  to  reteyne  their  speciall  charges  w'thin  their 
ouue  bounds."3  It  is  a  very  remarkable  fact,  which,  as  far 
as  we  know,  has  entirely  escaped  attention  as  regards  its 
historical  significance,  that  the  Tithingman  of  Massachusetts 
was  originally  the  head  man  of  a  neighborhood  of  at  least 
ten  families.  This  was  the  revival  in  all  its  purity  of  the 
Saxon  Tithing,  an  institution  more  ancient  than  towns  or 
parishes,  a  patriarchal  institution  underlying  all  local  forms 
of  Saxon  self-government.  It  was  the  unit  of  the  Hundred, 
which  archaic  type  of  organization  is  still  known  in  Dela- 
ware and  remembered  in  Maryland,  a  subject  which  we 
shall  soon  investigate.  In  1(538  a  bill  was  introduced  into 
the  General  Assembly  of  Maryland  providing  for  ' '  a  Ty th- 
ingman  in  each  Manor"  and  "a  Constable  in  each  Hundred."  * 
There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  Saxon 
Tithing  in  New  England,  although  in  the  South  it  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  so  common  as  the  Hundred.  By  an 
Act  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  as  late  as  1(577  the  select- 
men of  every  town  then  existing  in  Massachusetts  were 
ordered  "  to  see  to  it  that  there  bee  one  man  appointed  to 
inspect  the  ten  families  of  his  neighbours." b     Such  was  the 


1  In  later  times,  Tithingmen  were  always  elected  in  town  meeting.     See 
Acts  and  Resolves  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  L,  155,  328. 

2  Records  of  Massachusetts,  v.,  240. 

3  Ibid.  155. 

4  Bacon,  Laws  of  Maryland,  1638,  ch.  ii.,  12. 
4  Records  of  Massachusetts,  v.,  133. 


Tithingmen. 

original  character  of  the  Tithingman's  office  in  Xevv  Eng- 
land as  well  as  in  Old  England.  Arnold  has  probably  none 
wrong  in  his  History  of  Rhode  Island1  in  connecting  the 
duty  of  Tithingmen  with  that  of  collecting  tithes.  The  cor- 
respondence of  names  was  purely  accidental.  In  this  view, 
we  are  supported  by  Mr.  Edward  A.  Freeman,  who  says 
there  is  no  historic  connection  between  Tithes  and  Tithing- 
men. 

In  Plymouth  Colony,  the  Saxon  Tithing  was  reinstated 
for  the  government,  of  the  Indians.  It  was  ordered  that  in 
each  town  where  Indians  dwelt  that  every  tenth  Indian 
should  be  appointed  Tithingman  by  the  Court  of  Assistants. 
His  duty  Avas  to  have  the  care  and  oversight  of  his  nine 
men  and  to  present  their  faults  and  misdemeanors  to  a  so- 
called  "  overseer,"  who  received  his  commission  from  the 
governor.2  This  was  precisely  like  the  duty  of  the  Tithing- 
men of  Old  England  at  the  time  the  Pilgrims  came  over. 
English  Tithingmen  were  required  by  law  to  report  to 
the  justice  of  the  peace  the  names  of  all  rogues  and  vaga- 
bonds apprehended,  punished  or  sent  to  the  house  of  cor- 
rection. Courts  of  law  were  actually  introduced  among  the 
Indians  of  Plymouth  Colony,  the  white  settlers  considering, 
very  wisely,  that  such  a  course  would  have  i%  a  g<*od  tend- 
encye  to  the  ciuilliseingof  the  said  Indians."1  In  a  letter  of 
the  Reverend  .Mr.  Treat,  of  Eastham,  to  the  Reverend 
Increase  Mather,  this  good  missionary  remarks,  that  there 
are  five  hundred  Indians  in  his  township.  "  They  have  four 
distinct  assemblies,  in  four  villages,  in  which  they  have 
four  teachers  of  their  own  choice.  .  .  .  There  are  also  six  jus- 
tices of  the  peace,  or  magistrates  in  these  villages,  who 
regulate  their  civil  affairs,  and  punish  criminals  and  trans- 
gressors of  the  civil  law.  They  have  three  stated  courts, 
and  other  inferior  officers."4     These  were  probably  Tithing- 

1  Arnold.  History  of  Rhode  Island,  ii..  Mil. 

2  Plymouth  Colony  Laws,  2.">::. 
a  Ibid.  2,-W. 

4  Pratt.  History  of  Kastham.  Wollflcel  and  Orleans,  :'.>. 


Ttthmgmen. 

meth  Indians,  like  white  men,  were  strictly  watched  on 
the  Sabbath.  They  were  forbidden  to  hunt  or  fish,  to 
plant  or  hoe  corn,  to  carry  burdens,  or  *«  to  doe  any  seruill 
worke  on  the  Lord's  day."  ' 

There  are  some  rather  curious  facts  concerning  this  con- 
dition of  practical  Indian  serfdom  in  the  towns  of  Plymouth 
Colony.  By  a  system  bf  courts  and  Tithingmen,  the  Indians 
were  brought  as  completely  under  the  subjection  of  the 
whites  as  were  ever  the  subdued  Britains  under  the  Saxons, 
or  the  conquered  Saxons  under  the  heel  of  their  Norman 
lords.  And  it  is  very  interesting  to  observe  that,  in  all 
three  instances,  the  servile  population  was  held  down  by 
the  very  same  means.  Indians  were  not  only  restrained 
from  their  natural  freedom  by  these  Tithingmen,  but  were 
to  a  great  extent  reduced  to  "seruill  worke"  and  the 
"carrying  of  burthens,"  at  first,  probably,  by  a  kind  of 
voluntary  enthrallment  for  the  sake  of  protection,  like 
the  Saxon  freemen,  then  by  the  slowly  increasing  pressure 
of  the  law.  The  following  extract  from  the  Plymouth 
records  is  very  interesting  in  the  light  of  comparative 
jurisprudence,  particularly  in  the  light  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  law,  "  if  any  Indian  whoe  is  a  servant  to  the  Eng- 
lish shaH  run  away  amongst  any  Indians,  such  Indians 
whither  such  a  runaway  Indian  is  come,  shall  forthwith  giue 
notice  of  the  said  Runaway  to  the  Indian  Constable  [or  the 
Tithingman]  whoe  shall  immediately  apprehend  such 
Indian  servant,  and  carry  him  or  her  before  the  Ouerseer 
or  next  Majestrate,  whoe  shall  cause  such  servants  to  be 
whipt  and    sent    home    by  the    Constable    to    his    or    her 

master,  whoe  shall  pay  said  Constable  for  his  service ."  2 

It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  Indian  captives,  taken  in  war, 
were  sent  South  and  sold  as  slaves  to  the  Bermudas. s 
Indians  were  also  sold  for  debt  or  theft,  at  public  auction, 


1  Plymouth  Colony  Laws,  60. 

2  Ibid.,  255. 

3  Ibid.  242.     King  Philip's  son  was  sold  into  slavery  in  the  Bermudas. 

10 


Tithingmen. 

by  the  Constable  of  Plymouth  towns.1  We  have  in  New  Eng- 
land an  interesting  survival  of  this  old  Saxon  custom  in  the 
practice  of  farming  out  the  labor  of  the  town's  poor  to  the 
highest  bidder.  Convict  labor,  southern  chain-gangs,  and 
Delaware  whipping-posts,  all  repose  upon  the  same  solid 
Saxon  ground,  servitude  to  the  laic.  It  is  folly  to  heap  re- 
proaches upon  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  or  upon  any  generation 
of  men.  We  Americans,  whether  in  the  North  or  at  the 
South,  are  of  the  same  English  blood;  we  have  inherited 
kindred  institutions,  with  much  the  same  virtues  and  about 
the  same  vices. 

Tithings  and  Tithingmen  were  no  development  of  New 
England  Puritanism.  These  institutions  for  the  strict  and 
wholesome  government  of  neighborhoods  were  transmitted 
to  us  from  the  mother  country.  We  may  perhaps  discover 
the  first  step  of  the  transmission  process  in  the  instructions 
given  to  Governor  Endicott,  in  1(525),  by  the  Massachusetts 
Company  while  they  were  yet  in  England.  This  business 
association  of  honorable  and  enterprising  Englishmen,  who, 
according  to  their  own  accounts,  provided  for  New  England. 
"  Ministers,  men  skylfull  in  making  of  pitch,  of  salt.  Yyne 
Planters, — Wheat,  rye,  barley,  oates, — stones,  of  all  sorts 
of  fruites,"2  this  thoughtful  Company  provided  also  the  seeds 
of  English  self-government  in  Towns  and  Tithings.  They 
said  to  Endicott  by  letter,  "  wee  hope  vow  will  f'vnde  many 
religious,  discreete,  and  well  ordered  persons,  well  vow 
must  sett  over  the  rest  devyding  them  into  famylies,  placing 
some  wth  the  ministers,  and  others  under  such  as,  beeing 
honest  men  (and  of  their  owne  calling  as  neere  as  may  bee) 
may  haue  care  to  see  them  well  educated  in  their  general! 
callings  as  Christians,  and  particuler  according  to  their  seuer- 
all  trades  or  fitness  in  disposition  to  learne  a  trade."3  To 
any  one  familiar  with   the   English  law  of    that    period  con- 


1  Plymouth  Colony  Laws.  '!:'<',. 

■  Records  of  Massachusetts,  i..  21 

J  Ibid.  :{!);{;  cl".  :'.'.»7.  loo.  lit:.. 

1 1 


Tit  It  I  iii/men. 

cerning  the  training  of  servants  and  apprentices,  the  above 
instructions  to  Endicott,  which  are  repeated  over  and  over 
again,  will  appear  to  he  only  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the 
family  regulations  of  the  mother  country. 

In  the  library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  at 
Boston  is  preserved  a  curious  little  volume  in  old  English 
black-letter,  on  "  The  Dvties  of  Constables,  Borsholders, 
Tythingmen,  and  such  other  lowe  and  Lay  Ministers  of  the 
Peace,  by  William  Lambard,  of  Lincolnes  Inne,  Gent, 
London,  1614."  Published  before  either  Pilgrims  or  Puri- 
tans came  over  and  possibly  brought  to  this  country  by  one 
of  the  first  settlers  (for  another  of  the  writings  of  this  same 
William  Lambard  was  owned  by  Adam  Winthrop  and  w7as 
brought  over  by  his  son,  Governor  John  Winthrop,  together 
with  the  Charter  of  Massachusetts) ,  the  above  treatise  must 
be  an  important  and  trustworthy  source  of  information  as  to 
the  exact  nature  of  these  offices  in  Old  England  at  the 
period  of  their  transmission  to  the  New  World.  It  appears 
that  there  wrere  many  variations  of  the  name  of  Tithingman 
in  the  mother  country,  just  as  in  the  Town  Records  of 
Groton,  carefully  edited  according  to  the  original  spelling, 
by  Dr.  Samuel  A.  Green,  we  find  a  great  variety  of  terms, 
from  Tidingman  and  Tighing  man  to  Tiethengman  and 
Tiethenman.  J  In  Saxon  Law  we  find  Tineman,  Tynmanna, 
Teothungman,  Teothungmannus.  In  mediaeval  Latin  occur 
Decanus,  Decimus,  Decimalis  Homo.  We  also  find  Head- 
Borough,  Head-Boroughman,  Borough  Elder,  Borsholder 
(Borhs-Ealdor)  or  the  Elder  of  the  Pledge,  Chief  of  the 
Pledge,  Capitalis,  Princeps  Plegii,  and  the  like.  These 
names  we  have  gathered  from  many  different  sources,  but 
they  are  all  intelligible  in  the  light  of  the  following  extract 
from  Lambard's  Constable  :  ' '  Now  whereas  every  of  these 
tithings  or  boroughs  did  use  to  make  choice  of  one  man 
amongst  themselves,  to   speak,  and  to  do,  in  the  name  of 

1  Green.     The  early  Records  of  Groton,  Massachusetts,  101,  108,  112, 
116, 125. 

12 


Tidiingmen. 

them  all ;  ho  was  therefore  in  some  places  called  the  Tything- 
man,  in  other  places  the  Borough's  elder  (whom  we  now 
call  Bors-holder) ,  in  other  places  the  Boro-head  or  Head- 
borough,  and  in  some  other  places  the  Chief-pledge;  which 
last  name  doth  plainly  expound  the  other  three  that  are  next 
before  it;  for  Head  or  Elder  of  the  Boroughs,  and  Chief  of 
the  Pledges,   be  all  one." 

This  extract  from  Lambard  we  have  taken  from  Touhnin 
Smith's  work  on  the  Parish  (280),  showing  that  Lambard  is 
recognized  as  good  authority  by  one  of  the  best  modern 
writers  upon  the  subject  of  English  local  institutions.  Black- 
stone  based  his  account  of  "Constables"  and  "Justices  of 
the  Peace  "  upon  Lambard,  and  scarcely  ever  went  back  of  the 
hitter's  authority.  But  Lambard  while  trustworthy  in  mat- 
ters belonging  to  his  own  time,  is  to  be  read  with  great  cau- 
tion and  in  the  light  of  modern  research  as  regards  all  ((no- 
tions of  Saxon  antiquities.  The  following  extracts  from 
Lambard  we  have  made  from  the  edition  of  the  Duties  of 
Constables,  now  preserved  in-the  library  of  the  .Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society.  He  says,  "  In  some  of  the  West- 
erne  parts  of  England  where  there  lie  many  Tythinginen  in 
one  parish,  there  only  one  of  them  is  a  Constable  for  the 
King,  and  the  rest  do  serue  but  as  the  ancient  Tithingmen 
did."  Lambard  also  says,  "In  some  shires,  where  euerie 
Third  borow  hath  a  Constable,  there  the  officers  of  the 
other  two  be  called  Third  borowcs."  The  latter  office  is  the 
same  as  that  of  Tithingman.  Although  not  everywhere 
taking  the  name  of  Petty  Constable,  which  was  a  term 
introduced  by  the  Normans,  the  Saxon  Tithingman  acquired 
under  the  Norman  regime  certain  constabulary  functions, 
and  these  we  have  partly  noticed  in  our  account  of  the 
New  England  Tithingman.  Lambard  says  the  Tithingman 
really  combined  two  offices  "  the  one  being  his  ancient  and 
first  office,  and  the  other  his  later  made  office."  l'pon  the 
basis  of  original  records  and  of  an  unpublished  manuscript 
account  of  constabulary  duties,  which    was   brought    over  to 


Tithinginen. 

this  country  by  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Dorchester,  we 
shall  treat  of  the  office  of  "  Constables  "  in  a  special  mono- 
graph, to  be  published  by  the  New  England  TTintorin  flnm, 
alogical  Society.1  We  are  here  concerned  with  the  ancient 
Tithingman,  who  was  the  father  of  the  Norman  petty  con- 
stable and  the  irrandfather  of  New  England  selectmen. 

According  to  Lambard,  the  ancient  office  of  Tithingman 
was  headship  of  the  Frank-pledge.  This  is  not  the  whole 
truth,  for  the  institutions  of  Tithing  and  Tithinginen  are 
older  than  that  of  Frank-pledge.  Canon  Stubbs2  and 
George  Waitz3,  the  most  recent  authorities  upon  English 
and  German  constitutional  history  respectively,  maintain 
that,  before  the  Norman  conquest,  there  is  no  positive 
proof  of  the  existence  of  collective  responsibility  for  crime 
committed  within  a  Tithing.  On  the  other  hand,  Palgrave4 
and  the  older  authorities  are  inclined  to  discover  germs  of 
the  system  of  Frank-pledge  even  in  Anglo  Saxon  times. 
By  a  law  of  Canute,  every  freeman  who  desired  to  enjoy 
the  privilege  of  exculpation  by  the  oath  of  his  friends  or 
the  protection  of  Wer-geld  (money  payment  for  injury) 
was  to  be  enrolled  in  a  Hundred  and  in  a  Tithing ;  he  was 
to  be  brought  under  pledge  or  "  Borh,"  and  this  was  to 
hold  him  to  right.  The  term  Frank-pledge  is  a  vulgar  cor- 
ruption of  the  Saxon  Frith-borh  or  peace-pledge.  Whether 
or  no  the  outgrowth  of  Saxon  beginnings,  this  institution  in 
Norman  times  was  certainly  the  collective  personal  pledge 
of  ten  or  more  men  to  their  lord.     The  idea  of  associate  re- 


1  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  April  and  July,  1882. 
*  Stubbs'  Constitutional  History  of  England,  i.,  87. 

3  Waitz,  Deutsche  Verfassungsgeschichte,  i.,  458  (ed.  18G5.)  Waitz 
takes  strong  ground:  "  Es  gab  keine  (jesannntbiirgerschaft  unter  den 
Angelsachsen,  weder  fiir  das  Wergeld  noch  in  irgend  welcheni  andern 
Sinn,  weder  vor  noch  nach  Aelfreds  Zeiten." 

4  Palgrave,  English  Commonwealth,  part  ii.,  exxiii.  "  The  S3rstem  was 
developed  between  the  accession  of  Canute  and  the  demise  of  the  Con- 
queror ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  Normans  completed  what  the 
Danes  had  begun." 

14 


Till  I  ilKJUK-ll . 

sponsibility  is  here  of*  more  importance  than  the  mere  num- 
ber, for  as  many  as  eighty  men  were  sometimes  admitted 
into  one  Tithing.  Ten  was  the  least  number  allowed  in 
Frank-pledge.1  Probably  the  Normans  infused  greater 
energy  into  the  Saxon  Tithing  and  gave  to  the  idea  of 
Frith-Borh  a  more  strictly  collective  sense,  jis  a  better 
surety  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace.'-'  The  old  Saxon 
Tithingman  certainly  became  the  Borhs-Ealdor  (the  Bors- 
holder  of  Lambard)  which  signifies  the  same  as  the  Elder 
or  Chief  of  the  Pledge. 

The  custom  of  Frank-pledge  and  the  relation  of  Tithing- 
man to  the  same  are  well  described  in  the  laws  of  Henry  I. 
and  also  in  those  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  both  of  which 
collections,  however,  belong  to  a  period  later  than  the  time 
of  the  kings  whose  names  they  bear.  In  the  laws  of  Henry 
there  is  an  ordinance  relating  to  the  Hundred,  giving  special 
authority,  if  necessary,  to  all  freemen,  whether  retainers  or 
men  having  their  own  hearthstone  (heorthfest),  to  convene 
twice  a  year  in  their  own  Hundred,  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  whether  the  Tithings  are  full,  whether  any 
have  withdrawn,  if  so,  how  and  why,  and  whether  any  have 
been  added.  It  was  enjoined,  moreover,  that  a  Tithing- 
man (decimus)  preside  over  every  nine  men.  and  one  of  the 
better  sort  over  every  Hundred,  who  should  be  called  an 
Alderman  ( aldremannus )*  and  take  diligent  care  to  pro- 
mote   the    execution    of    law,    whether   human   or   divine.4 


1  Palgrave,  ii..  cxxv. 

2  Dr.  Reinhold  Schmid,  in  his  edition  of  the  (Jeset/.e  der  Angelsaehseii 
(ed.  of  Is.YS,  ]>.  (54!))  culls  attention  to  the  fact  that  we  have  no  evidence 
of  the  Normans  possessing  any  sueli  institution  a-  l-'rank-pledire  in 
Normandy  and  says  :  •'  So  we.it  unsere  Ivunde  von  dem  Verhaeltniss  bis 
jetzt  reicht,  blcibt  daher  der  angelsaechsische  I  rsprunir  der  Zehnt- 
buergersehaft  das  Wahrscheinlicherc."  To  this  conclusion  we  had 
already  come  before  discovering  Schmid'-  note  upon  ••  Kechtshnerg- 
schaft,''  but  we  gladly  rest  our  results  upon  hi-  solid  ant  hority. 

3  "  Vocabantur  elderenian,  non  propter  seiiectuten  scd  propter 
sapientiain."     Law  of  Ed.  Con.  (Thorpe  i..  I."»i>.  i 

4  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  Kngland.  i.,  ">1"< :  also  in  Stubbs' 
Select  Charters,  lot;. 

15 


Tithingmen. 

The  law  of  Frank-pledge,  or  Frith-Borg,  ascribed  to  Ivl- 
ward  the  Confessor,  was  not  framed  until  the  twelfth 
century.  Weadopl  Kcmble's translation :  "Another peace, 
the  greatest  of  all,  there  is  whereby  all  are  maintained  in 
tinner  state,  to  wit  in  the  establishment  of  a  guarantee, 
which  the  English  call  Frithborgas,  with  the  exception  of 
the  men  of  York,  who  call  it  Tenmannetale,  that  is,  the 
number  often  men.  And  it  consists  in  this,  that  in  all  the 
vills  throughout  the  kingdom,  all  men  are  bound  to  be  in  a 
guarantee  by  tens,  so  that  if  any  one  of  the  ten  men  offend 
the  other  nine  may  hold  him  to  right."  '  The  custom  of 
viewing  Frank-pledge  in  the  court  leet  or  popular  court  of 
the  man  >r,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  that  the  tenantry  are 
properly  enrolled  in  Tithings,  is  said  to  prevail  in  York- 
shire to  this  day.2 

The  origin  of  Tithings,  and  of  their  multiple  the  Hun- 
dred, is  one  of  the  most  obscure  questions  in  the  early 
history  of  English  institutions.  Blackstone  and  the  earlier 
writers  dispose  of  the  question  very  summarily  by  ascribing 
the  above  types  of  local  organization  to  Alfred  :  "to  him," 
says  Blackstone,  "  we  owe  that  masterpiece  of  judicial 
polity,  the  subdivision  of  England  into  tithings  and  hun- 
dreds, if  not  into  counties."  The  monkish  testimony  of 
Ingulph,  upon  which  this  widely  accepted  statement  rests, 
is  utterly  worthless  upon  this  point.  It  was  customary  in 
the  Middle  Ages  to  ascribe  every  good  institution  either  to 
Alfred  or  to  Edward  the  Confessor.  If  pious  monks  and 
popular  opinion  are  to  be  followed  in  institutional  history, 
then  we  must  ascribe  to  King  Alfred  the  origin  of  trial  by 
jury.  As  an  able  critic,  presumably  Palgrave,  said  years 
ago  in  the   Edinburgh  Review,3    if    Alfred  was  really  the 


1  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes,  i.,  450.     Kemble,  Saxons  in  England,  i., 
249-50. 

2  Stubbs'  Constitutional  History  of  England,  i.,  88,  note  4. 

3  Edinburgh  Review  (Feb.  1822),  p.  289;  cf.    Hallam,  Middle  Ages, 
note  vi.  to  ch.  viii,,  part  II. 

16 


Titkingmen. 

originator  of  Hundreds  and  Tithings,  and  shires,  "  he  must 
also  have  been  the  creator  of  the  common  law  itself,  which 
only  proceeds  in  conjunction  with  these  divisions."  The 
fact  is,  Blackstone  and  the  older  writers,  Coke,  Littleton, 
Bracton,  knew  really  very  little  about  the  origin  of  English 
institutions.  The  whole  science  of  institutional  history  is 
one  of  modern  growth  and  can  be  pursued  only  in  the  light 
of  comparative  politics  and  of  comparative  jurisprudence, 
along  lines  of  inquiry  opened  up  by  such  pioneer  investi- 
gators as  Von  Maurer,  Hanssen,  Nasse,  AVaitz,  (ineist, 
Stubbs,  Freeman,  Maine,  and  specialists  in  Anglo-Saxon 
law.  The  study  of  Saxon  institutions  was  not  possible 
before  the  labors  of  Palgrave,  Kemble,  Thorpe,  and  Rein- 
hold  Schmid  in  classifying  materials  and  editing  statutes 
and  codices.  But  with  all  these  modern  facilities,  it  is  not 
easy  to  trace  out  to  one's  entire,  satisfaction  the  origin  of 
England's  early  institutions  of  law  and  government. 

We  find  Tithings  mentioned  in  the  law  of  Canute  already 
cited.  AVe  can  trace  back  the  institution  through  several 
Saxon  reigns,  but  finally  we  lose  all  trace  of  it.  Among 
the  laws  of  Edgar,  in  the  ordinance  relating  to  the  Hundred 
it  is  ordered  that  if  a  thief  is  to  be  pursued,  the  fact  is  to  be 
made  known  to  the  Hundrcdman  and  he  is  to  inform  the 
Tithingman,  and  all  are  to  "go  forth  to  where  God  may 
direct  them,"  so  that  they  "do  justice  on  the  thief,  as  it 
was  formerly  the  enactment  of  Edmund."1  Here,  if  we 
mistake  not,  we  arc  upon  the  historic  track  of  the  old  Saxon 
Hue  and  Cry.  AVe  note  from  the  laws  of  Edgar  that  "  if 
the  hundred  pursue  a  track  into  another  hundred,"2  warning 
is  to  be  given  to  the  Hundrcdman  there,  so  that  lie  may 
join  in  the  chase.  Following  a  track  from  one  Hundred 
into  another  would  seem  to  imply  territorial  limits.  In  the 
laws  of  Edgar,  it  is  also  prescribed  that  no  one  shall  take  pos- 
session of  unknown  cattle  ••  without  the  testimonies  of  the  men 

1  Ancient  Laws  and  Statutes  of  Knirland.  i..  L'.V.t. 
"  Ibid.   201. 

C  17 


Tithingmtn. 

of  the  Hundred,  or  of  the  Tithingman." '  In  the  laws  of 
Athelstan,  among  the  so-called  Judicia  Civitatia  Lundonim 
it  is  ordered  that,  in  tracing  or  pursuing  8  criminal,  every 
man  shall  render  aid,  l<  SO  long  as  the  trtiek  is  known  ;  and 
after  the  track  has  failed  him,  that  one  man  be  found  [from 
one  Tithing]  where  there  is  a  large  population,  as  well  as 
from  one  Tithing  where  a  less  population  is,  either  to  ride 
or  to  go  (unless  there  be  need  of  more.)"2  This  appears 
to  imply  a  territorial  seat  even  for  the  Tithing,  as  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  Hundred,  as  well  as  a  varying  number  of 
inhabitants  within  the  Tithing  itself. 

Probably  the  Saxon  Tithing  had  its  origin  in  the  personal 
association  of  warriors  by  tens  and  hundreds.  Such  a 
decimal  system  of  military  organization  existed  among 
various  early  Teutonic  peoples,  if  not  throughout  the  whole 
Aryan  family  of  nations.  Even  the  Jews  fought  by  tens, 
and  fifties,  and  hundreds.  Undoubtedly  kinship  had  origin- 
ally something  to  do  with  the  marshalling  of  hosts.  The 
Homeric  wrarriors  fought  under  patriarchal  chiefs.  The 
ancient  Germans,  according  to  Tacitus,  were  arrayed  by 
families  and  near  kinsmen  (familiae  et  propinquitates).3 
And  it  is  not  at  all. unlikely  that,  after  the  conquest  of 
Britain,  the  Saxons  settled  down  in  Tithings  and  Hundreds 
upon  somewhat  clannish  principles. .  Of  course  the  com- 
position of  the  host,  when  levied,  would  vary  from  time  to 
time,  but  a  certain  idea  of  territorial  permanence  would 
soon  attach  itself  to  the  local  Tithings  and  Hundreds  from 
the  very  fact  of  the  allotment  of  lands. 

There  seems  to  be  great  reluctance  on  the  part  of  German 


1  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  England,  i.,  261. 

2  Ibid.  233,  cf.  ii.,  499  and  Schinid,  Die  Gesetze  der  Angelsachsen,  161. 

3  Tacitus,  Germania,  cap.  7.  Prof.  W.  F.  Allen,  in  a  note  upon  this 
passage,  in  his  edition  of  the  Germania,  calls  attention  to  the  parallel 
passage  in  Caesar,  de  hello  Gallico,  vi.,  22,  where  it  is  stated  that  land 
was  assigned  gentibus  cognationibusque  hominum.  "From  the  two 
passages,  it  appears  that  the  divisions  of  laud,  and  military  divisions, 
were  alike  founded  upon  Kinship." 

18 


Tithhiymen. 

specialists  like  Gneist  and  Schmid  to  admit  thai  tin;  Saxon 
Tithing  ever  became  territorial  before  the  Norman  conquest, 
after  which  time  Schmid,1  at  least,  concedes  the  existence 
of  the  territorial  Tithing,  although  he,  like  the  rest  of  the 
German  critics,  continues  to  distinguish  very  sharply 
between  the  local  Saxon  Tithing  and  the  purely  personal 
Frank-pledge.  Stubbs,  the  best  English  authority  upon 
the  subject  of  Saxon  institutions,  says  that  Tithings  of  a 
territorial  character  exist  to  this  day  in  the  western  counties 
of  Somersetshire,2  Wiltshire,  Gloucestershire  and  Worces- 
tershire, and  in  all  counties  south  of  the  Thames,  except 
Cornwall  and  Kent.  Stubbs,  who  follows  Pearson  upon 
this  point,  says  the  Tithings  of  some  counties  answer  to  the 
townships  of  others.  This  statement  and  the  researches  of 
Pearson,  in  the  text  of  his  Historical  Maps  of  England 
during  the  first  thirteen  centuries,3  uncover  a  secret  which 
none  of  the  German  writers  appear  to  have  discovered. 
They  deny  the  existence  of  a  territorial  Tithing  among  tin* 
Saxons,  because  the  name  does  not  occur  in  the  Domesday 
Book.4  Toulmin  Smith  read  the  secret  of  the  Tithing  in  his 
researches  into  the  history  of  the  English  Parish  and  it  will 
be  as  clear  as  daylight  to  anyone  reflecting  upon  the  natural 
relation  of  the  personal  Tithing  to  its  landed  domain.  A 
group  of  at  least  ten  families,  a  Tithing  of  inhabitants, 
constituted  a  Saxon  Township,  which  is  the  secular  basis  ot 
the  ecclesiastical  Parish. 

We   cannot    enter   in    this   connection    upon  the  subject  of 

1  Schmid,  Die  (Jesetzc  der  Anjjelsachsen,  ills. 

2  Mr.  Kdwunl  A.  Freeman  says  lie  lives  in  the  Tithini:  of  litirrott. 
Soinerleaze,  Wells.  County  of  Somerset,  which  Tithini:.  before  the 
recent  rtisjhway  Act  of  the  Poor  Law.  used  to  meet  ami  tax  it-elf  for 
local  purposes.  Notices  of  the  tnectim;'  of  the  Tithing  n-nl  to  he 
posted,  like  the  notices  of  a  New  Knylaiid  Town  Meeting. 

:i  Pearson    Historical  Maps.  ,")<)  :>•_'. 

4  (i neist.  Das  KiiLdische  Verwalttin.nsreclil .  i..  ■"> I.  In  den  uneiidlielien 
Kan/.elheiten.  welclie  das  norinaunisehc  l)omesda\  hook  uieht.  Loimnen 
die  Worte  tlcniniit,  decenna,  ti'Wihuj.  hjihimj  audi  nielit  ein  ein/.iues 
Mai  vor. 

l'.i 


Tithing  men. 

the  transformations  of  Tithing,  Township,  and  Parish,  but 
shall  one  day  do  so  more  fully  in  papers  upon  the  Origin  of 
Northern  Towns  and  Southern  Boroughs.  We  call  atten- 
tion, however,  to  a  few  important  and  fundamental  facts. 

1.  Many  modern  places  in  England,  that  are  recognized 
as  Tithings,  end  in  the  Saxon  word  Ton,  meaning  Town, 
e.  g.,  the  Tithing  of  Alkington,  in  Berkeley  Parish. 

2.'  Many  Tithings  are  geographically  identical  with 
Parishes,  although  many  Parishes  often  include  several 
Tithings. 

3.  Many  names  of  English  Parishes  end  in  the  Saxon 
Ton  and  correspond  territorially  with  old  Saxon  Towns. 

4.  '  In  the  later  part  of  the  Middle  Ages,  taxation  in 
England  was  levied  upon  Tithings,  Towns,  and  Parishes; 
the  existence  of  ten  householders  in  a  township  or  parish 
was  the  criterion  of  local  liability  to  taxation. 

5.  The  Tithingman,  and  his  historic  kinsmen,  the  Town 
Reeve,  and  the  Parish  Constable,  assessed  and  collected 
taxes. 

6.  The  Saxon  Tithingman  became  the  Norman  Petty 
Constable.  It  is  a  principle  of  the  common  law  that 
wherever  there  is -a  Petty  Constable,  there  is  a  Parish. 

The  following  extract  from  the  Laws  of  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor (Thorpe  I.,  454),  throws  considerable  light  upon  the 
functions  of  the  English  Tithingman  in  the  Middle  Ages: 
Cum  autem  viderunt  quod  aliqui  stulti  libenter  foriftfa- 
ciebant  erga  vicinos  stios,  sapientiores  cepei*unt  consilium 
inter  se,  quomodo  eos  reprimerent,  et  sic  impomerunt 
justiciarios  super  qiiosque  x.  frithborgos,  quos  decanos 
possumus  dicere,  Anglice  autem  tyenthe-heved,  vocati  sunt, 
hoc  est  caput  x.  Isti  autem  inter  villas,  inter  vicinos  tracta- 
bant  causas,  et  secundum  quod  forisfavturo3  erant,  emenda- 
tiones  et  ordinationes  faciebant,  videlicet  de  pascuis,  de 
pratis,  de  messibus,  de  certationibus  inter  vicinos,  et  de 
multis   Jiujusmodi   quce  frequenter    insurgunt.       Compare 

20 


Tithingmen. 

» 

Kemble,  Saxons  in  England,  I.,  253.  Spelman  (Works 
II.,  51)  says,  "  every  hundred  was  divided  into  many 
Freeborgs  or  Tithings  consisting  of  ten  men.  which  stood 
all  bound  one  to  the  other,  and  did  amongst  themselves 
punish  small  matters  in  their  court  for  that  purpose,  called 
the  Lcet,  which  was  sometimes  granted  over  to  the  Lord 
of  Manours,  and  sometimes  exercised  by  peculiar  officers. 
But  the  greater  things  were  also  carried  from  thence  into 
the  Hundred  Courts;  so  that  both  the  streams  of  Civil 
justice  and  of  Criminal  did  there  meet,  and  were  decided  by 
the  Hundreds — as  by  superior  judges  both  to  the  Court 
Baron  and  Court  Leet  also."  Then  commenting  on  the 
above  law,  Spelman  continues,  "  Edward  the  Confessor 
(LI.,  cap.  32)  saith,  that  there  were  justices  over  every 
ten  Freeborgs,  called  Deans,  or  Tienheovod  (that  is.  head 
often)  which  among  their  neighbours  in  Towns  compounded 
matters  of  trespasses  done  in  pastures,  meadows,  corn,  and 
other  strife,  rising  among  them.  But  the  greater  matters, 
saith  he,  were  referred  to  superior  justices  appointed  over 
every  ten 'of  them,  whom  we  call  Centurions,  Centenaries, 
or  Hundredors,  because  they  judged  over  an  hundred 
Freeborgs." 

In  the  face  of  this  testimony,  it  is  difficult  to  understand 
how  German  critics  and  even  Ha  Ham  (Middle  Ages,  eh. 
VIII.,  part  1)  and  Stubbs  (Const.  Hist.  I.,  DO)  can  doubt 
that  the  Tithingman  settled  small  causes  between  man  and 
man.  The  Selectmen  of  early  New  England  Towns  and 
the  Parish  Officers  of  Maryland  had  similar  judicial  func- 
tions. Upon  the  question  of  village-judgeship,  Stubbs 
makes  a  ve-v  prudent  modification  of  his  first  statement  : 
"  The  Tithingman  is  of  course  an  elective  officer.  The  idea 
that  he  was  a  sort  of  village-magistrate  is  without  basis; 
although  in  a  simple  community  of  peasants  the  office  of 
Constable,  for  such  seems  to  have  been  the  position  of  the 
Tithingman,  was  held  in  more  honour  than  it  is  now."  Pear- 
son, in  his  History  of  England  (  I..  252)    savs,    ••  The  only 


rrillt!n<imen. 

t 

popular  magistrates  ill  the  country  were — the  Tithing  and 
Hundred  Reeves  j  (he  former  were  always,  the  latter 
mostly,  elected  by  their  respective  communes.  The  smaller 
questions  of  debt  and  police  were  probably  decided  by 
these  met!  ill  their  respective  courts;  the  freemen  of  the 
Tithing  would  meet  as  occasion  required;  the  Hundred 
Court  was  summoned  once  a  month."  In  the  court  of 
the.  Tithing  we  may  discover  the  germ  of  vestry  meeting 
and  town  meeting,  and  in  Tithingmen,  the  origin  of  Select- 
vestrymen  and  Selectmen. 

The  Saxon  Tithingman  was  the  Selectman  of  the  Tithing. 
He  was  an  elected  officer,  like  the  Petty  Constable,  who 
succeeded  him.  The  mediaeval  Tithingman's  functions  were 
patriarchial  and  authoritative.  He  was  the  Town  Father  in 
the  true  and  original  sense  of  that  term.  His  relations  were 
with  families,  as  in  early  New  England.  He  watched  over 
his  hamlet  as  the  New  England  Tithingman  watched  over  his 
neighborhood  and  the  congregation.  He  kept  the  public 
peace ;  he  was  arbiter  between  neighbors  and  kinsmen ;  he 
regulated  the  division  of  lands,  the  use  of  pastures  and 
meadows ;  he  announced  the  time  of  harvest  and  when 
enclosures  were  to  be  removed  or  fences  put  up.  He  was 
a  man  having  authority  in  a  small  neighborly  way.  He 
foreshadowed  the  Petty  Constable  and  the  easy-going'  Select- 
men of  our  modern  New  England  Towns.  But  the  main 
idea  of  his  office  was  the  same  as  that  perpetuated  in  the 
original  Tithingmen  of  New  England,  viz :  elective,  patri- 
archal headship  over  a  neighborhood  of  at  least  ten  families. 
This  is  the  original,  fundamental  character  of  the  office, 
considered  as  a  local  institution. 

We  have  found  the  heart  of  our  subject.  We  have 
stripped  off'  the  ecclesiastical  tissue,  which  in  later  times 
enshrouded  the  New  England  Tithingman,  who  is  now 
undoubtedly  dead.  We  have  dissected  away  the  outer 
layer  of  constabulary  duties,  and  have  found,  in  the  patri- 
archal control  of  a  Tithing,  the  real  mechanism  which  for 

22 


Tithingmen. 

many  centuries  gave  such  energetic  life  to  the  Tithingrnnn. 
The  biologists  in  Baltimore  have  recently  succeeded  in 
isolating  the  mammalian  heart,  and  in  keeping  it  alive,  by 
a  transfusion  of  foreign  blood,  for  hours  after  the  rest  of  the 
body  is  entirely  dead.  Possibly  by  some  such  method  of 
procedure,  in  the  case  of  a  live  subject  like  the  modern 
Constable  or  Selectman,  we  may  derive  a  more  intimate 
knowledge  of  that  older  institution,  whose  life  is  now  beating 
on  in  kindred  forms. 


23 


V 


Local  Government 


Michigan  and  the  Northwest 


[Extracts  from  the    Ordinance   cf   May   20,  1785,  for  ascertaining  tbe  mode  of  disposing  of 
Lands  in  the  Western  Territory.] 

"  Be  it  ordained  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  that  the  territory  ceded 
by  individual  States  to  the  United  States,  which  has  been  purchased  of  the  Indian 
inhabitants,  shall  be  disposed  of  in  the  following  manner: 

"The  surveyors  ....  shall  proceed  to  divide  the  said  territory  into  townships  of 
six  miles  square,  by  lines  running  due  north  and  south,  and  others  crossing  these  at 
right  angles,  as  near  as  may  be, — 

"There  shall  be  reserved  the  Lot  No.  16,  of  every  township,  for  the  maintenance  of 
public  schools  within  the  said  township." 


[Extract  from   the  Ordinance  of  July  13,  1787,  for  the  Government  of  the  Territory  of  the 
United  8tates,  north-west  of  the  river  Ohio.] 

"Keligion,  morality,  and  knowledge,  being  necessary  to  good  government  and  the 
happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged." 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

I  N 

Historical    and    Political    Science 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 


History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History.  —  Freeman 


V 


Local  Government 


Michigan  and  the  Northwest 


Read  before  the  American  Social  Science  Association,  September  7, 1 SS2 


By  EDWARD   W.  BEMIS,  A.  B. 


B  A  LT  IMOll  K 

Published  by  the  Johns  Hopkins  Usivkksitv 

MARCH,    188:5. 


JOHN  MURPHY  A  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORK. 


LOCAL     GOVERNMENT 

IN 

MICHIGAN  AND  THE  NORTHWEST. 


Not  long  ago,  at  a  college  in  a  neighboring  State,  a  professor 
proposed  for  debate,  "  Resolved,  That  the  New  England  town- 
meeting  should  be  abolished."  In  a  class  of  nearly  one  hundred, 
not  ten  could  be  found  willing  to  discuss  the  subject,  and  only  one 
showed  a  comprehension  of  its  general  bearings.  —  this  in  a  New 
England  college.  So  great  ignorance,  probably,  does  not  prevail 
among  those  New  England  citizens  whose  duty  at  the  polls  has  taught 
them  something  of  the  government  of  their  town  or  city.  Yet  it 
is  undeniable  that  few  persons  have  any  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
local  political  institutions  of  other  parts  of  the  country  than  their 
own.  For  instance,  in  a  recent  conversation,  a  judge  of  acknowl- 
edged reputation  for  legal  wisdom,  in  a  State  east  of  New  York,  a 
man  even  of  legislative  experience,  said  he  was  entirely  unac- 
quainted with  the  county  government  of  the  Empire  State.  A 
member  of  the  supreme  bench  of  one  of  the  northwestern  States 
confessed  to  much  the  same  ignorance  respecting  Ohio. 

Nor  is  the  reason  for  this  ignorance  far  to  seek.  The  import- 
ance of  the  subject  is  hardly  yet  realized.  We  seldom  value  or 
study  what  we  share  with  all  around  us.  If  money  for  schools, 
for  roads,  or  for  the  poor  is  raised  in  the  same  manner  in  our  town 
and  the  next,  in  our  county  and  beyond,  we  assume  it  is  so  with 
our  State  and  its  neighbor,  with  the  East  and  the  West,  with 
Pennsylvania  and  Illinois,  with  New  York  and  Missouri,  or.  if  we 
learn  of  a  difference,  we  imagine  that  ours  must  be  the  better.  1 1' 
we  go  to  our  libraries  for  information,  we  return  no  wiser  than  we 
went.  As  the  old  method  of  writing  history  was  to  narrate  the 
exploits  of  kings  and  their  armies,  so  the  study  of  politics  is  still 
mostly  confined  to  the  doings  of  Reichstag.  Parliament,  Congress, 
State  Legislatures  and  Common  Councils. 

Previous  to  1872,  when  E.  M.  Haines,  of  Illinois,  read  a  valua- 
ble paper  before  the  Social  Science  Association,  on   the   "Growth 


6  Local  Government  in 

of  Township  Organization  in  the  West,"  scarcely  anything  on  the 
subject  of  local  government,  save  Professor  Parker's  paper  in  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  on  the  Towns 
of  New  England,  had  been  written  in  this  country.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  a  brief  article  by  Galpin,  in  Walker's  Statistical  Atlas 
in  1874,  only  two  or  three  short  articles  have  since  appeared,  al- 
though such  writers  as  Bancroft  and  Freeman  have  borne  testimony 
to  the  need  of  information  upon  this  subject.  Several  men  at  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University  are  now  pursuing  their  investigations  in 
this  direction  and  their  results  will  be  published  in  a  regular  series 
of  University  Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Science. 

Now  what  is  meant  by  local  government,  and  why  is  its  treatment 
so  important?  The  government  of  the  United  States  consists  of 
four  distinct  centres  of  political  power :  the  central  power,  with 
its  seat  at  Washington  ;  the  State,  with  its  important  legislative 
powers  ;  the  county,  the  seat  of  many  judicial  powers  ;  and,  lastly, 
cities  and  villages,  and  those  small  incorporations,  rareby  more 
than  thirty-six  square  miles  in  area,  into  which  more  than  half  the 
States  of  our  Union  are  divided,  and  which,  in  the  East,  are  usually 
called  towns,  and,  in  the  West,  townships.  The  assembling  of  the 
electors  together  in  these  small  civil  divisions,  at. annual  or  special 
meeting,  for  determining,  not  only  what  officers  shall  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  township,  but,  as  in  many  States,  how  such  affairs 
shall  be  managed,  what  taxes  shall  be  raised  for  schools,  roads, 
bridges,  parks,  commons,  cemeteries,  public  buildings,  and  other 
subjects  of  local  concern,  determining,  too,  what  by-laws  the}'  will 
have  for  their  regulation,  and,  in  short,  how  the  prudential  affairs 
of  the  townshio  shall  be  managed  in  the  manner  most  conducive 
to  its  peace,  welfare  and  good  order  ;  all  this  has  an  influence  upon 
the  people,  the  importance  of  which  cannot  be  over-estimated.  Of 
all  the  means  of  political  education,  none  perhaps  has  been  so 
effective  in  creating  an  interest  in  republican  institutions  as  well 
as  in  calling  forth  the  intelligence  necessary  for  their  preservation, 
as  the  town-meeting. 

It  is  not,  however,  to  the  town-meeting  alone  that  we  refer  when 
we  speak  of  local  government,  but  to  all  agencies  by  which  matters 
purely  local  in  character,  are  taken  from  federal  or  State  juris- 
diction and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  local  authorities.  Counts' 
legislation  and  county  powers,  in  so  far  as  related  to  subjects  of 
exclusively  county  interest,  are  just  as  much  parts  of  local  self- 


Michigan  and  the  Northwest.  7 

government,  as  the  government  of  town,  village,  or  city.  Indeed, 
the  increasing  tendency  to  transfer  power  from  the  State  to  the 
county  is  very  marked  in  some  sections  and  deserving  of  careful 
study.  It  needs  but  the  slightest  acquaintance  with  the  workings 
of  onr  State  legislatures  to  convince  any  one  that  much  of  the 
corruption,  the  "log-rolling,"  and  worse,  which  disgrace  American 
politics,  results  from  the  control  which  is  given  to  our  legislatures 
over  purely  local  matters  by  means  of  special  legislation.  Authority 
for  building  a  bridge  or  house  of  refuge,  erecting  a  town  hall  or  a 
prison,  is  sought  in  the  legislature,  although  only  the  one  member 
from  the  district  affected  knows  anything  of  the  merits  of  the  bill. 
If  that  member  has  already  sold  his  vote  none  of  his  associates  are 
sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  measure  to  defeat  it,  but  pass  the 
bill  out  of  courtesy,  wiiile  individual  responsibility  for  the  corrup- 
tion or  misjudgment  is  lost  in  the  numbers  voting.  Not  so  when 
these  questions  are  brought  before  the  local  district  which  alone  is 
interested.  Every  member  of  a  county  or  township-board  is 
acquainted  with  the  measure  under  discussion,  and  popular  con- 
demnation follows  close  upon  abuse  of  trust.  The  worst  class  of 
men  seek  to  enter  our  legislatures  because  of  the  profitable  meas- 
ures requiring  their  approval,  but  which  might  better  be  adjusted 
in  local  assemblies.  Illinois,  fourteen  years  ago,  by  passing  an 
act  forbidding  local  bills  and  special  acts  of  incorporation,  and 
relegating  all  that  was  necessary  to  the  local  bodies,  diminished 
her  pages  of  statute  laws  from  three  thousand  to  two  hundred. 
Understanding,  then,  the  importance  of  local  government,  both 
for  political  education  and  pure  administration  of  public  affairs,  it 
becomes  of  great  interest  to  study  our  various  systems  of  local 
self-government,  both  in  their  development,  present  condition,  and 
probable  future. 

Although  from  the  same  stock,  and  subjects  of  the  same  laws, 
the  settlers  along  the  northern  and  southern  portions  of  our  Atlan- 
tic coast  were  led  by  circumstances,  which  we  need  not  here  dis- 
cuss, to  adopt  very  different  systems  of  local  government.  At  the 
beginning,  the  parish  of  South  Carolina  resembled  the  New  Kng- 
land  town,  as  a  student  from  the  Palmetto  State  has  shown  ;  but, 
by  1850,  nearly  all  power  in  the  South  was  concentrated  in  the 
State  and  county,  while  in  New  England  the  local  unit  endured. 
But  town  and  parish  were  survivals  of  the  old  English  and 
German    village    community.       The    theory    of    State    lights    was 


8  Local  Government  in 

a  favorite  one  at  the  South,  but  decentralization  of  power,   or 
local  self-government,  was  much  greater  at  the  North. 

We  might  study  simple  town  government  in  New  England,  or 
its  modified  form  in  New  York.  But  it  would  be  as  interesting, 
and  more  instructive,  to  any  one  investigating  the  ultimate  effect 
of  these  institutions  and  their  relative  merits,  if  we  could  find  some 
large  area  of  country  where  the  two  systems  of  centralized  and 
decentralized  power  have  been  brought  together  on  a  new  field  ; 
and  especially  interesting  would  it  be  if  any  one  method  of  gov- 
ernment had  gained  the  ascendency  after  a  fair  trial  of  strength. 
Such  a  country  is  that  which  was  originally  called  the  Northwest 
Territory,  or  that  beyond  the  Ohio,  land  that  is  now  divided  into 
the  five  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  and  Wis- 
consin. 

The  French,1  the  early  settlers  of  Michigan,  and  of  a  few  places 
to  the  South  and  West,  were  never  given  local  rights,  but  were 
under  military  and  personal  government.  Land  was  granted  on 
feudal  conditions,2  while  trade  was  in  the  hands  of  a  close  corpora- 
tion. One  great  trouble  with  the  French  settlements  and  a  chief 
cause  of  their  decline,  was  their  entire  lack  of  local  government. 
"The  progress  of  France,"  says  Lecky,3  "in  more  distant  quar- 
ters [than  Europe]  has  been  restricted  by  an  incurable  incapacity 
for  successful  colonization,  due  principally  to  the  French  passion 
for  centralization  and  over  administration."  French  colonization 
in  this  county  was  contemporaneous  with  the  increasing  centrali- 
zation of  French  institutions  under  Louis  XIV.  Everything  must 
be  done  for  the  people,  nothing  by  them.  Modern  French  history 
is  a  sufficient  commentary  on  such  a  system.  With  all  local  offi- 
cers appointed  at  the  capital,  Paris  was  the  most  powerful  corpora- 
tion in  the  State.  If  the  Parisians  favored  kingdom  or  republic, 
this  was  the  government  of  France.  The  present  stability  of  the 
French  Republic  is  partly  due  to  the  powerful  and  awakened  con- 
servative influence  of  the  peasantry,  who  are  allowed  far  more  local 
government  than  eight}"  years  ago. 

'For  a  very  interesting  account  of  French  customs,  character,  mode  of  life, 
education,  etc.,  see  paper  on  The  Early  Colonization  of  Detroit,  by  Bela 
Hubbard,  Michigan  Pioneer  Collections,  Vol.  I,  pp.  347-368. 

2This  is  well  described  in  the  early  chapters  of  J.  Campbell's  valuable 
work,  "  The  Political  History  of  Michigan." 

'History  of  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  Vol.  I,  p.  358. 


Michigan  and  the  Northwest.  9 

The  evils  of  centralized  government  increase  directly  with  the 
separation  of  the  governing  and  the  governed.  The  effect  is  well 
described  by  Judge  Campbell  in  a  recent  paper.1  "A  system  of 
personal  oversight,"  he  says,  "was  maintained  over  every  man 
who  came  into  the  country,  and  there  is  no  instance  recorded,  and 
probably  none  existed,  where  any  one  ever  settled  down  in  the 
wilderness  as  a  squatter  or  pioneer  and  cleared  a  farm  for  himself. 
There  were  no  farming  settlements  except  under  restricted  and 
lixed  regulations,  and  every  one  who  went  into  the  country  went 
as  a  roving  adventurer,  and  not  as  a  settler."  Complete  centrali- 
zation left  no  room  for  independence.-  The  natural  result  was 
seen  when  invasion  came.  As  long  as  the  feudal  lords  were  honest 
and  patriotic,  resistance  to  conquest  was  strong  ;  but  when  those  in 
authorit}'  proved  false,  the  colonists  fell  helpless  before  the  English, 
instead  of  resisting  as  did  the  settlers  of  the  Atlantic  coast  in  1770. 

Under  British  control  there  was  still  no  local  government  in  the 
Northwest.  The  governor  and  council  had  almost  absolute  power. 
There  were  less  than  four  hundred  Englishmen,  and  the  idea  that 
Frenchmen  were  entitled  to  representation,  or  even  to  the  right 
of  habeas  corpus,  was  deemed  preposterous.  Tartly  in  consequence 
of  such  facts,  few  settlers  were  attracted  to  this  region,  and  popu- 
lation increased  slowly.3 

On  the  evacuation  of  the  territory,  in  1788,  the  country  assumed 
the  name  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  was  organized  in  accord- 

'Early  French  Settlements  in  Michigan.     Pioneer  ('oil.,  Vol.  If,  p.  t>G. 

*"  Simple  and  frugal  in  their  habits,  contented  with  their  lot,  they  renewed 
in  their  forest  recesses  of  the  new  world,  the  life  of  the  old.  They  were  free 
from  ambition  and  its  cares,  and  without  aims.  While  they  enjoyed  much 
personal  license,  they  had  no  conception  of  municipal  freedom  ami  of  self- 
government —  of  liberty  regulated  by  law,  originating  from  the  Mill  of  tin: 
governed  themselves.  They  received  with  equal  and  unquestioning  subinis. 
siveness  their  law  from  the  king  and  his  subordinates,  and  their  religion  from 
their  priests."  'the  Northwest  during  the  Revolution,  by  (.'has.  I.  Walker. 
Mich.  Pioneer  Coll.,  Vol.  J 1 1,  p.  It. 

3Many  went  to  St.  Louis,  Arkansas  and  New  Orleans.  "Detroit,  which 
had  probably  numbered  more  than  (100  inhabitants  in  I7(>.'>,  had  hut  about  liOO 
at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution.  The  whole  Detroit  settlement  did 
not  then   exceed   700  or  SOU,  in  the  place  of  2500,  as  estimated   by   Rogers   in 

17(i0 No  new  settlements   had   been   formed,  ami    I    am   satisfied 

that  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution,  exclusive  of  officers  and  sol- 
diers and  their  families,  the  entire  white  population  of  the  Northwest  did  net 
exceed  .3,000  souls."     Mich.  Coll.  Vol.  Ill,  p.  15. 


10  Local  Government  in 

ance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  the  importance 
of  which  can  scarcely  be  exaggerated.  It  secured  freedom,  educa- 
tion and  political  development  to  what  are  now  five  great  States, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  Michigan.  We  cannot 
trace  the  growth  of  these  individual  States.  It  will  answer  our 
purpose  to  sketch  as  briefly  as  possible  the  growth  of  local  powers 
in  that  one  of  the  five  which  first  adopted  the  town-meeting,  and 
by  its  success  induced  man)-  other  States,  west  and  south,  to  make 
the  same  attempt  with  as  marked  success. 

Counties  were  established  in  Michigan  by  Gov.  Hull,  in  1805, 
and  for  the  same  object  as  the  counties  of  old  Virginia, — for  judi- 
cial purposes.  Indeed,  one-fourth  of  the  laws  of  Micnigan  at 
that  time  were  taken  from  Virginia  and  the  rest  from  Ohio,  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  York,  in  about  equal  proportions.1  As  the  Ohio 
legislation  was  in  part  a  copy  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  laws, 
the  influence  of  the  two  different  systems  of  local  government, 
centralized  and  decentralized,  was  about  equal.  The  French  pre- 
ferred central  control,  but  most  of  the  new  settlers  were  from 
New  York  and  New  England  where  local  power  was  most  devel- 
oped. In  181 5, -  before  a  sign  of  local  government  was  visible  in 
the  rural  districts,  an  act  reincorporating  Detroit  allowed  the 
electors  in  town-meeting  to  levy  taxes  for  such  purposes  as  they 
saw  fit.     The  same  power  was  granted  to  Prairie  du  Chien  in  1821. 

The  growth  of  local  power  outside  of  the  cities  was  somewhat 
as  follows:  Gov.  Hull,  before  1813,  appointed  commissioners  to 
supervise  the  highways  and  bridges  in  the  as  yet  unincorporated 
townships  or  divisions  of  territoiy  six  miles  square,  into  which  all 
western  land  is  divided  by  the  governmont  surveyor.  Then  these 
commissioners  in  1820  were  given  the  relief  of  the  poor.  Soon' 
after,  in  the  same  year,  by  vote  of  the  governor  and  judges,  it 
became  the  duty  as  well  as  privilege  of  the  governor  to  appoint 
three  county  commissioners,  with  somewhat  enlarged  powers. 

In  1825,  Congress  gave  power  to  the  governor  and  council  of 
Michigan  to  incorporate  townships  and  provide  for  the  election  of 
county  and  township  officers.  This  may  be  considered  as  the 
foundation  of  local  government  in  Michigan,  establishing,  as  it  did, 
local  elections  for  all  local  officers  ;  but  the  powers  of  the  county 

lrThis  statement  is  based  on  an  analysis  of  the  Territorial  Laws,  published 
in  one  volume. 

2See  Territorial  Laws.     Acts  of  1815. 


Michigan  and  the  Northwest.  11 

still  vastly  exceeded  those  of  the  town.  From  a  law  of  1x27  we 
judge  that  the  town-meeting  could  only  appropriate  money  for  the 
destruction  of  noxious  weeds,  birds  and  animals,  and  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  township  poor.  Another  and  important  power  was, 
however,  conferred  upon  the  township  that  year,  namely,  raising 
money  for  schools.  From  that  time  until  the  present,  the  powers 
of  the  township  have  slowly  but  continuously  increased. 

The  genesis  of  local  government  in  Western  hamlets  is  very 
simple.  First  comes  the  settler,  who,  axe  in  hand,  clears  the 
ground  for  his  humble  dwelling  and  plants  whatever  seed  he  has 
brought  with  him.  Then  comes  another  settler  and  another,  until, 
perhaps,  a  dozen  families  are  established  near.  Two  wants  are 
now  felt :  roads,  or  at  least  paths,  from  house  to  house,  from  ham- 
let to  market  town,  and  a  school-house  for  the  multiplying  children. 
There  is  no  strong  central  authority  to  provide  these  things,  but 
the  settlers  meet  and  voluntarily  vote  to  tax  themselves.  The 
services  of  a  supervisor,  collector,  clerk,  constable,  and  justice  of 
the  peace  are  required.  Mam-  a  township  record  begins  like  that 
of  Burlington.1  "  Was  organized  in  1837,  and  held  its  first  town- 
ship meeting,  April  3d,  of  that  year,  electing  Justus  Goodwin, 
supervisor;  ().  ('.  Freeman,  town  clerk;  Justus  Goodwin,  Gihesia 
Sanders  and  Moses  S.  Gleason,  justices  of  the  peace;  Levi 
Haughtailing,  constable  and  collector.  Established  six  road  dis- 
tricts ;  voted,  $100  to  build  a  bridge  across  the  St.  Joseph  river, 
and  850  for  bridging  the  Nottawa  creek.  Voted,  §.">()  for  common 
schools  and  $o  bounty  for  wolf  scalps."  The  township  would 
naturally  assume  other  powers  in  due  time  with  the  increased 
community  of  interests. 

The  local  institutions  of  the  Fast  were  transplanted  to  a  new 
soil,  losing  in  the  journey  none  of  their  pristine  vigor,  but  casting 
oil'  such  portions  as  were  found  unsuited  to  a  change  of  circum- 
stance and  time.  Of  the  four  supreme  court  judges  of  .Michigan, 
Ihree  are  of  New  York  or  New  Fngland  birth.  The  same  is  true, 
of  fifteen  of  the  twenty-four  State  circuit  judges.  Five  of  the  latter 
are  of  Michigan  birth,  and  three  of  Ohio.-  Probably  no  State 
can  rival  Michigan  in  number  of  sons  from  New  York  and  New 
England.     Of  the  49G  members  of  the  Michigan  Pioneer  Associa- 

'Rccortls  of  Burlin-ton,  Calhoun  Co.     Mich.  Coll.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  21  I. 
^Michigan  Manual  lor  1  S.S  1 ,  pp.  41  J?   42:!. 


12  Local  Government  in 

tion  in  1881,  407  are  from  these  sections.1  From  such  a  fact  alone 
we  might  expect  an  aptitude  for  local  government ;  but  apart 
from  this,  the  kindrei  fact  of  participating  in  the  organization  of 
communities  and  new  governments,  has  had  much  to  do  with  the 
easy  transplanting  of  local  institutions,  and  with  the  energy  and 
force  of  character  displayed  by  the  settlers.  "  There  is  something 
so  staid,  so  stereotyped,  so  entirely  finished  in  those  old  settle- 
ments," [of  the  East]  remarks  a  recent  speaker,2  "that  there  is 
small  opportunity  for  development;  but  let  the  persons  that  are 
there  struggling  for  an  existence  amid  those  old  fossilized,  stereo- 
typed institutions,  start  out  into  a  new  country,  and  they  can  get 
into  a  position  in  the  organization  of  society,  the  organization  of 
States,  the  organization  of  counties,  the  organization  of  towns, 
the  organization  of  villages,  the  establishment  of  schools  and 
churches  ;  and  thus  it  is  by  being  brought  into  contact  with  this 
necessity  the  opportunity  is  afforded  to  develop  into  a  higher  type, 
and  a  greater  vigor  of  life,  than  is  possible  in  the  old  country." 

A  marked  feature  of  the  political  development  of  Michigan,  is 
the  influence  of  the  governors  and  judges  of  the  territory.  Their 
legislation,  in  the  words  of  Judge  Campbell,  was  "  rather  a  first 
preparation  for  popular  government  than  the  result  of  popular  dis- 
content." From  1813  to  1831,  Governor  Cass  was  a  great 
power  in  the  territoiy.  He  was  thoroughly  imbued  with  New 
England  ideas  of  local  government,  under  which  he  was  born  and 
brought  up.  He  it  was,  more  than  any  one  else,  who  instituted 
county  and  town  government  in  Michigan.  He  gradually  abandoned 
the  appointment  of  county  and  township  officers,  and  urged,  nay 
required  the  people  to  elect  them.  He  evinced  his  far-reaching 
discernment  and  foresight  in  the  following  words  :  "•  In  proportion  • 
as  government  recedes  from  the  people,  they  become  liable  to  abuse. 
Whatever  authority  can  be  conveniently  exercised  in  primary 
assemblies,  ma}'  be  deposited  there  with  safety.  They  furnish 
practical  schools  for  the  consideration  of  political  subjects,  and  no 
one  can  revert  to  the  history  of  our  revolutionary  struggle  without 
being  sensible  that  to  their  operation  we  are  indebted  for  much  of 
the  energy,  unanimity  and  intelligence  which  was  displayed  by  our 

Michigan  Pioneer  Collection,  Vol.  I,  p.  92;  Vol.  II,  p.  186;  Vol.  Ill,  p. 
2(J8. 

2See  Michigan  Pioneer  Collection,  Vol.  II,  p.  398. 


Michigan  and  the  Norlliwest.  13 

government  and  people  at  that  important  crisis."1  And  in  this  he 
voices  the  sentiments  of  Jefferson,  who  says :  ;'  These  wards, 
called  townships  in  New  England,  are  the  vital  principle  of  their 
governments,  and  have  proved  themselves  the  wisest  invention 
ever  devised  by  the  wit  of  man  for  the  perfect  exercise  of  self- 
government  and  for  its  preservation. "- 

In  the  constitution  which  Michigan  adopted  on  becoming  a  State, 
in  1837,  the  governor  had  important  powers.  "With  the  consent 
of  the  senate,  he  could  appoint  the  judges  and  all  State  oflieers  : 
could  adjourn  the  legislature  if  he  thought  lit,  and  could  remove 
from  office  not  only  State  officers,  but  even  those  of  the  county 
and  township  if  he  thought  them  incompetent.  Internal  improve- 
ments also  were  sanctioned.  All  this  is  now  changed.  Uv  the 
constitution  of  1850  the  power  of  the  governor  was  greatly  re- 
stricted. Nearly  all  offices,  ministerial  as  well  as  county  and 
town,  were  made  elective  ;  while  mismanagement  of  the  finances 
in  making  internal  improvements  had  so  displeased  the  people,  that 
the  power  was  taken  away.  Exclusive  control  was  given  to  the 
count}'  board  of  supervisors  in  the  settlement  of  claims  against 
counties,''  and  the  express  provision  was  inserted  that  the  legisla- 
ture might  confer  upon  politically  organized  or  incorporated  town- 
ships, incorporated  villages  and  cities,  and  upon  the  boards  of 
supervisors  of  the  several  counties,  4i  such  powers  of  a  local  legis- 
lative and  administrative  character  as  they  may  deem  proper."4 
The  county  seat  cannot  be  removed  without  vote  of  the  electors, 
and  when,  in  1870,  the  constitutional  amendment  was  submitted 
to  popular  vote,  allowing  county  supervisors  to  raise  82.000  for 
public  buildings,  highways,  bridges,  etc.,  without  vote  of  the 
county,  instead  of  81,000  as  at  present,  the  adinendment  was  de- 
feated, 01,1)0-4  to  ;3«J,1.S0. 

'Life  of  Cass  by  W.  G.  L.  Smith,  p.  181. 

He  also  says  :  "Those  institutions  have  elsewhere  produced  the  most  ben- 
eficial (.'fleets  upon  the  character  of  communities,  and  upon  thu  general  course 
of  public  measures.  They  embrace  within  their  scope  those  questions  ot 
local  police  which  are  necessary  to  every  citizen,  and  which  every  citizen  is 
competent  to  discuss  and  determine.  In  the  more  extensive  concerns  ot"  a 
country  the  necessary  regulations  for  these  subordinate  matters  cannot  he 
adopted  and  enforced  "  [  by  the  central  authorities  ]. 

-Letter  of  .Jefferson  to  Samuel  Kerchival,  duly  1L\  ISO!.  Writings,  Vol. 
VII.  p.   13. 

'Constitution  of  1S.V),  Art.  X.  Sec.  10. 

'Article  IV.  Sec.  38. 


14  Local  Government  in 

Michigan  was  the  first  State  in  the  West  to  adopt  the  town- 
meeting.  She  has  been  followed  in  this  by  Wisconsin,  Minnesota 
and  Illinois.  The  three  States — Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  were 
settled  more  largely  bj-  people  from  Pennsylvania,  Kentucky  and 
Virginia,  than  were  Michigan  and  Wisconsin.  As  a  natural  con- 
sequence they  have  adopted  a  compromise  system  similar  in  many 
respects  to  that  of  Pennsylvania.  Ohio1  and  Indiana2  have  town- 
ship officers  elected  by  the  people,  but  few  questions  of  an  admin- 
istrative or  legislative  character  are  submitted  to  the  voters.  In 
Illinois,3  however,  in  1848,  a  law  was  passed4  b}*  which  a  vote  of  a 
majority  of  the  legal  voters  allows  a  county  to  adopt  township  organ- 
ization writh  power  lodged  in  the  town-meeting,  as  in  Michigan  and 
Wisconsin.  Seventy-five  of  the  one  hundred  and  two  counties 
have  already  so  voted ;  seven  since  1870,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
but  that  the  others  will  follow. 

The  town  meeting  in  Michigan5  is  thus  conducted : — The  first 
Monday  in  April  of  each  year,  every  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
twenty-one  years  of  age  and  upwards,  who  has  resided  in  the 
State  six  months  and  in  the  township  the  ten  days  preceding,  has 
the  right  of  attending  and  participating  in  the  meeting.  The 
supervisor,  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  township,  presides, 
and,  with  the  justice  of  the  peace,  whose  term  of  office  soonest 
expires,  and  the  township  clerk,  constitute  the  inspectors  of  elec- 
tion. After  the  choice  of  officers  for  the  ensuing  year  the  electors 
proceed,  from  twelve  to  one  or  three,  as  the  case  ma}'  require,  to 
the  discussion  of  town  business.  Complaint  is  perhaps  made 
that  the  cattle  in  a  certain  part  of  the  township  are  doing  damage 
by  running  at  large  ;  a  by-law  is  passed,  forbidding  the  same 
under  penalty  not  exceeding  ten  dollars.  A  bridge  ma}-  be  wanted 
in  another  part  of  the  township,  but  the  inhabitants  of  that  road 
district  cannot  bear  the  expense ;  the  town-meeting  votes  the 
necessary  amount,  not  exceeding  the  limits  of  law,  for  the  laws 
restricting  the  amount  of  taxation  and  indebtedness  are  very  par- 
ticular in  their  provisions.  The  electors  may  regulate  the  keeping 
and  sale  of  gunpowder,  the  licensing  of  clogs,  and  the  maintenance 

Revised  Statutes  of  Ohio,  1880,  Part  I,  Titles  X  and  XI. 

2  "  "        of  Indiana,  1881,  Chap.  90,  Article  32. 

3  "  "        of  Illinois,  1880,  Chap.  139. 

4For  law  as  amended,  see  Illinois;  L,  1831,  pp.  216-218. 
5IIowells'  Annotated  Statutes  of  Mich,  1882,  §  G69-717. 


Michigan  and  the  Northwest.  1,"> 

of  hospitals,    and   may   order  the   vaccination  of   all  inhabitants. 

The  voters  in  town-meeting  are  also  to  decide  how  mneli  of  the 
one-mill-tax  on  every  dollar  of  the  valuation  shall  lie  applied  to  the 
purchase  of  books  for  the  township  library,  the  residue  going  to 
schools.  The  annual  reports  of  the  various  township  ollieers 
charged  with  the  disbursement  of  public  moneys  also  report  at  this 
time.  In  slu.rt,  whatever  is  local  in  character  and  affecting  the 
township  only,  is  subject  to  the  control  of  the  people  assembled  in 
town  meeting.1  Yet  we  may  notice  some  minor  differences  be- 
tween the  New  England  town-meeting  and  its  sister  in  Michigan. 
Jn  the  latter,  the  by-laws  and  regulations  art'  less  varied  in 
character.  This  is  <A\w,  to  the  fact  that  in  the  West,  that  part  of 
the  township  where  the  inhabitants  are  most  numerous,  the  village, 
and  for  whose  regulation  many  laws  are  necessary,  is  set  oil' as  an 
incorporated  village,  just  as  in  nearly  all  the  central  and  western 
states.  These  villages  have  the  privilege,  either  directly  in  village 
meeting,  or  more  often  through  a  council  of  live  or  more  trustees, 
of  managing  their  own  local  affairs,  their  police,  lire  department, 
streets  and  water  works.2  In  some  States,  however,  they  are  con- 
sidered pa,rts  of  the  township,  and  as  such  vote  in  town-meeting 
on  all  questions  touching  township  roads,  bridges,  the  poor  and 
schools. 

'The  voters  may  order  the  raising  of  any  sum  within  certain  limits  which 
they  may  consider  necessary  or  proper  for  the  ordinary  expenses  of  township 
government  or  for  special  local  purposes.  [See  Upton  v.  Kennedy,  'it! 
Michigan,  220.] 

The  extreme  local  self-government  of  Michigan  is  nowhere  more  strongly 
defined  than  in  a  decision  of  .Indue  Cooley  and  associates  on  the  supremo 
bench,  in  Kobbins  v.  Barron,  .">.">  Mich,  I2<!:  ••The  hoard  of  supervisors  [of 
the  county]  do  not  originate  township  or  school  taxes,  hut  they  take  the  cer- 
tificate of  the  township  clerk  of  the  several  amounts  which  the  proper  author- 
ities have  voted  for  those  purposes  and  direct  the  amounts  specified,  it'  they 
appear  to  he  authorized  by  law,  to  he  spread  upon  the  tax-roll  of  the  town- 
ships. The  supervisors  have  no  discretion  in  the  premises:  they  have  only 
to  see  that  the  sums  are  authorized  hy  law  and  then  their  duty  to  l;i*c  the 
proper  direction  is  imperative.  If  they  should  wrongfully  refuse  to  u:i\e  it, 
they  might  he  compelled  by  mandamus  to  do  so.  lint  we  also  think  that  if 
the  township  authorities  should  proceed  to  levy  the  taxes  \\  liich  had  been  law- 
fully voted,  their  action  would  he  perfectly  valid  whether  the  proper  direction 
had  been  given  by  the  supervisors  or  not.  .  .  .  The  action  of  the  super- 
visors is  not,  we  apprehend,  required  to  give  the  local  ollieers  power  in  the 
premises,  but  rather  to  insure  the  duty  being  surely  and  regularly  performed.*' 

-Towns  may  now,  in    Massachusetts,  authorize    districts    to   maintain   street 


16  Local  Government  in 

Similar  powers  are  lodged  in  the  town-meeting  in  Wisconsin,3 
Minnesota,4  and  Illinois  f  Minnesota,  as  a  territory,  had  the  county 
system,  there  "being  no  incorporated  townships.  On  becoming  a 
State  in  1858,  the  Illinois  system  was  adopted  bodily,  and  changed 
again  at  the  end  of  two  years  for  the  county  system  ;  but  soon  the 
New  England  settlers  compelled  a  return  to  the  township  system. 
In  some  important  respects  the  New  York  town  meeting6  has  less 
power  than  further  west,  as  witness  the  provision  allowing  the 
town  highway  commissioner  to  expend  $250  a  year  without  vote 
of  the  town.7  The  electors  as  a  body  are  not  usually  called  upon 
in  New  York  to  determine  directly,  at  the  polls,  questions  of  local 
management  and  expenditure,  and  even  when  so  consulted  their 
vote  is  more  frequently  considered  advisory  than  binding,  for  local 
government  in  New  York  finds  its  greatest  development  in  the 
county  board. 

An}-  stud}'  of  town  goverment  would  be  incomplete  without  an 
examination  of  the  powers  and  duties  of  town  officers.  "The 
capacity  for  self  government,"  says  Von  Hoist,8  "  shows  itself  to  a 
very  essential  degree  in  the  moderate  self  limitation  by  the  people 
of  their  direct  political  activity  and  a  correct  perception  of  the 
things  which  they  can  better  accomplish  b}'  their  delegates."  In 
the  early  days  of  the  New  England  town  the  number  of  officers 
was  proportioned  to  the  variety  of  duties  required  of  them.  De 
Tocqueville,  fifty  3-ears  ago,  mentions  nearly  twenty  town  officers 
as  the  usual  number.  But  the  tendency  now  is  toward  consoli- 
dation. 

In  Massachusetts9  the  three  selectmen  are  usually  assessors, 
overseers  of  the  poor,  of  public  health  and  roads,  besides  carrying 
out  the  orders  of  the  town-meeting   and  managing  most  of  the 

lamps,  libraries,  sidewalks,  police,  and  a  fire  department.  [See  Public  Stat- 
utes of  Mass.  1882.  Chap.  27,  Sec.  37.] 

3Rev.  Stat  Wis.  1878,  Chap.  XXXVIII. 

4Rev.  Stat.  Minn.  1878,  Chap.  X,  Sees.  1-35. 

5Hev.  Stat.  111.  1880,  Chap    139,  Sees.  1-83. 

6Kev.  Stat.  N.  Y.,  7ed.,  Chap.  XI,  Title  II,  Article  1.  and  Title  VI.  L, 
1847,  Chap.  197.     L,  1872,  Chap.  513.     L,  1873,  Chap.  46. 

7Rev.  Stat.,  7ed,  Chap.  XVI,  Title  I,  Article  I,  Sec.  4 ;  L,  1832,  Chap.  274, 
and  L,  1857,  Chap.  615. 

•^Constitutional  History  of  the  United  States.     Vol.  Ill,  p.  155. 

9Pub.  Stat,  of  Mass.,  1882,  Chap.  27,  Sec.  101 ;  Chap.  52,  Sees.  3,  4  :  Chap. 
80,  Sec.  3 ;  Chap.  102,  Sec.  90,  etc. 


Michigan  and  the  Northwest ,  17 

town  business.  Michigan,  following  the  example  of  Xew  York, 
has  but  one  important  local  officer — a  supervisor,1  whose  duties 
are  rather  executive  and  clerical  than  administrative.  As  assessor 
he  takes  the  valuation  and  submits  it  to  the  county  board  for  re- 
vision. Receiving  again  the  valuation  as  corrected,  and  from  the 
township  clerk  a  statement  of  the  amount  to  be  raised,  he  appor- 
tions the  tax  among  the  inhabitants,  and  delivers  the  list  to  the 
treasurer  for  collection.  He  is  required  to  take  the  State  census 
every  ten  years,  to  report  violations  of  the  liquor  law.  to  inspect 
dams  and  see  to  the  maintenance  of  shutes  for  lish.  lie  provides 
temporary  relief  for  the  poor  of  the  township,  and  represents  his 
township  in  the  transaction  of  all  legal  business.  Michigan  town- 
ships have  but  one  supervisor,  yet  there  is  always  a  township 
board,1'  composed  of  the  supervisor,  township  clerk,  and  those  two 
of  the  four  justices  of  the  peace  whose  terms  of  office  soonest 
expire.  This  board  exercise  many  of  the  powers  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts selectmen.  They  may  remove  school  district  officers  for 
illegal  use  of  money;  they  are  the  court  of  appeal  for  all  dissatis- 
fied with  the  decisions  of  the  highway  commissioner:  they  yearlv 
examine  and  audit  the  accounts  of  the  township  treasurer,  and  of 
all  others  charged  with  the  disbursement  of  the  public  moiiev  : 
they  determine  the  bond  of  the  clerk,  preserve  town  rccoids,  call 
special  town-meetings,  till  vacancies  in  town  officers,  may  raise 
money  for  necessary  purposes  when  the  town  has  neglected  to  do 
so.  and  exercise  other  powers  of  a  similar  nature,  while  as  a  board 
of  health  they  possess  other  important  powers.  Wisconsin1  has 
three  supervisors  who  correspond  to  the  New  Kngland  selectmen. 
The  assessor  is  a  separate  officer  elected  by  the  people.  Minnesota 
is  still  more  like  Massachusetts,  for  the  three  supervisors  have 
charge  of  the  roads  and  bridges  also,  and  review  t  ;e  assess  i:ent 
list.  In  Ohio  there  are  three  township  trustees  who  have  the  entire 
charge  of  local  affairs,  being,  with  the  clerk  and  treasurer,  the 
only  township  officers.      In  Indiana,  with  but  one  township  trustee 

'See  Oreon.      Township  Laws  <it'  Michigan.   1ST!'. 

'-Ibid;    and  Howell's  Annotated  Stat.,  Sees.   711    ;.">". 

I'lider  tlie  Revised  Statute-;  of  ls:',s.  p,  CI,  See.  In,  tlie  township  hoard  was 
authorized  to  raise  money,  independently  of  any  vote  o1  the  electors,  to  pay 
claims  audited.  Tins  power  was  not  mentioned  in  the  |{e\i»ed  Statutes  of 
184C,  and  in  is  p.),  March  :»I,  Art.  200,  tlie  hoard  \\a-  prohibited  from  voting 
any  sum  for  any  purpose  other  than  ordinary  town>hip  cxpeiws. 

:,Kev.  Slat.  Wis.  1S78,  Sees.  Sli>— 827,  and  Chap.  ">:'.  etc. 


18  Local  Government  in 

and  no  township  board?  more  power  must  be  given  to  the  count}', 
and  uo  taxes  are  there  levied  without  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  county  commissioners.  The  same  is  true  of  New  York.  The 
town  supervisor  is  largely  controlled  b}T  the  county  board.  The 
duties  of  the  other  township  officers, —  the  clerk,  treasurer,  high- 
way commissioner,  constables  and  justices  of  the  peace  —  are 
sufficiently  indicated  by  their  titles. 

Inasmuch  as  many  of  the  thousand  or  more  townships  of  a  State 
lack  the  political  education  and  conservatism  necessary  for  perfect 
self-control ;  since  also  many  through  lack  of  means  cannot 
raise  sufficient  money  for  roads,  bridges,  schools  and  the  poor,  a 
higher  authority  is  needed,  with  the  power  of  equalizing  the  valu- 
ation of  several  contiguous  towns,  of  taxing  the  whole  number 
for  the  benefit  of  the  poorer,  and  of  exercising  a  general  oversight 
over  township  expenses.  This  power  resides  in  all  States,  to  a 
more  or  less  degree,  in  a  county  board.  In  New.  York,  where  no 
tax  can  be  raised  save  for  schools  or  a  town  hall,  and  no  bridge 
rebuilt,  in  town  or  village,  without  the  approval  of  the  county,  it 
may  be  well  to  have  the  board  composed  as  there  of  the  super- 
visors of  every  town  in  the  county ;  but  where  the  powers  of  the 
county  are  not  as  great,  e.  g.  in  New  England  and  much  of  the 
West,  three  commissioners  elected  by  the  whole  county  or  its  dis- 
tricts are  better.  In  Michigan,  for  instance,  which  has  borrowed 
the  organization  of  the  count}'  board  from  New  York,  and  its 
powers  from  Massachusetts,  the  board  is  too  large.  Judge  Cooley, 
in  a  recent  letter,  sharply  criticises  it.  There  is  so  little  responsi- 
bility in  a  board  of  16  to  24  members,  that  there  is  a  likelihood  of 
illegal  and  unwarranted  action.  Matters  of  local  concern  are  con- 
trolled by  combinations  in  the  board.  Illinois  has  the  Michigan 
system.  Wisconsin  has  a  board  composed  of  men  chosen  from 
two  or  more  towns.  Minnesota  has  three  county  commissioners 
with  little  power.  Further  west  the  county  renders  valuable  aid 
in  raising  money  for  schools,  for  the  tax  from  the  richer  towns  aids 
the  schools  of  the  poorer. 

The  importance  of  this  power  is  not  fully  appreciated.  For 
lack  of  similar  provision  in  Massachusetts,  there  is  ^scarcely  any 
State  or  county  aid  or  control  of  schools.  Every  town  is  left  to 
its  own  resources  with  poor  results.  All  educators  earnestly  advo- 
cate county  and  State  control  of  schools,  that  there  may  bs  uni- 
formity of  methods,  and  that  the  country  districts,  the  nurseries 


Michigan  and  the  Northwest.  lit 

of  our  great  men  in  the  past,  may  not  degenerate.  Bui  two 
influences  oppose  :  the  fear  of  centralization  on  the  part  of  the 
small  towns  which  need  it  most,  and  the  dislike  of  the  rich  cities 
to  tax  themselves  for  the  country  districts. 

We  have  reserved  until  now  the  consideration  of  the  relations 
of  local  government  to  public  education.  A  government  like  ours, 
resting  on  public  opinion,  must  educate  the  voters.  Convinced 
of  this,  the  intelligent  and  far-sighted  statesmen  of  the  last 
century  passed  the  ordinance  of  May  20.  17*.~>.  which  gave  one 
section  of  land  a  mile  square  in  ever}'  township  in  new  States  and 
territories  for  school  purposes,  to  be  kept  as  an  inalienable  fund. 
In  accordance  with  this  ordinance  and  that  of  184s,  introduced  by 
Senator  Douglas,  which  gives  two  sections  instead  of  one.  there 
have  been  given  to  nineteen  States  and  eight  territories  for 
school  education,  over  106,000  square  miles,  or  nearly  ;i>  much  as 
all  New  England  and  New  York.'  A  wiser  provision  was  never 
math'  by  government,  but  its  value  is  not  confined,  as  is  usually 
supposed,  to  its  direct  effects  on  public  school  education.  ••  Local 
self-government."  says  a  recent  English  writer,  Bishop  l'razer, 
"  is  the  mainspring  of  the  American  school  system 

As  the  immigrants  singed  westward,  from  Ireland  and  from 
Germany,  from  the  Connecticut  and  the  Susquehanna,  they  found 
a  vast  educational  fund  awaiting  them,  but  to  secure  its  benefits 
local  organization  of  school  districts  and  local  taxation  were  neces- 
sary. The  public  fund  alone  was  not  suflicient.  but  it  acted  as  a 
great  stimulus.  Now  what  has  been  the  result?  Dakota  has 
already  400  school  districts  where  the  voters  meet  at  annual  and 
spe:  ial  meeting  to  dis -uss  and  vote  local  taxes  for  everything  re- 
lating to  school  purposes,  in  short  the  district  meeting  is  modelled 
after  the  town-meeting  for  which  it  is  the  fitting  school. 

In  Michigan,  the  voters  in  district  meeting  direct  the  purchase 
of  a  site  and  the  building  of  a  scIioo1-1ioum\  the  amount  of  Un- 
tax, however,  being  strictly  limited  by  law.-      They    also  may  \olc 

'40th  Congress,  :>d  session  House  of  Hep  Kx.  Dec  17.  Tart  I.  ]»]>.  L'^'5  L':'.l. 
or  Report  of  I'.  S.  Com.  of  Kducution,  Issu,  pp.    XXVII.    XXX  IV. 

-Act  No.  K'.t,  I,,  b.  of  ISS1  (if  27),  Chip.  II.  See.  L'n.  The  voters  have 
power  '"  Sixth,  to  vote  such  tax  as  the  1 1 n ■ , ■  t i 1 1 _r  shall  ih  em  -utlieii  nt.  to  pur- 
chase or  lease  a  site  or  sites,  or  to  build,  hire    or   purchase   a  -chonl-l »e    or 

houses;  but  the  amount  of  (axes  t  >  he  raised  in  an\  district  f>r  the  purpose 
of  purchiisiii.i!  or  building  a  school-house  or  lioii-r-  in  the  -.en.  \  >  ar  that  anv 
bonded  indebtedness  is  incurred,  shall  not  exceed   in    districts    containing  los 


20  Local  Government  in 

to  repair  the  school-house,  to  provide  the  necessary  school  appar- 
atus, direct  the  sale  of  school  property  and  the  management  of 
suits  at  law.  They  also  determine  the  length  of  school  terms, 
while  the  district  board  of  three  elected  officers  estimate  and  vote 
the  tax  for  the  entire  support  of  schools  over  and  above  what  is 
voted  by  the  electors.3 

When,  however,  we  speak  of  the  school  district  meeting  as  a 
preparation  for  the  town-meeting,  we  are  not  ignorant  of  the  many 
injurious  effects  attending  the  district  system  in  the  older  States. 
It  caused,  and  continues  to  do  so  in  some  States,  such  subdivision 
of  school  moneys,  and  such  local  strife,  as  to  injure  greatly  the 
efficiency  of  the  schools. 

In  some  States,  notabby  Massachusetts,  the  town  system  has 
been  substituted  with  good  results.  Under  this  latter  system,  all 
the  money  for  the  school  districts  of  a  town  is  voted  in  one  sum 
at  the  town-meeting,  and  afterwards  applied  at  the  discretion  of 
the  public  school  committee.4  But  where  township  government 
does  not  exist,  and  the  people  are  too  scattered  to  have  similar 
interests,  the  school  district  system  is  the  only  one  practicable, 
and  its  effect  in  promoting  local  government  is  manifest. 

In  1880,  some  35,000  of  the  100,000  people  in  Southern  Dakota 
were  from  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Illinois,  and  other 
States  which  have  complete  local  government,  and  the  town-meet- 
ing has  alread}*  been  introduced  by  popular  vote  in  the  more 
thickly  settled  counties.5 

than  ten  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and  twenty  years,  $250  ;  in  districts 
having  between  ten  and  thirty  children  of  like  age,  it  shall  not  exceed  .$500; 
and  in  districts  having  between  thirty  and  fifty  children  of  like  age,  it  shall 
not  exceed  $1,C00." 

3Districts,  with  eight  hundred  children  between  five  and  twenty,  must  main- 
tain a  school  nine  months  in  the  year,  and  not  less  than  five  months  where 
there  are  from  thirty  to  five  hundred  children,  and  at  least  three  months  for 
smaller  neighborhoods,  on  pain  of  forfeiture  of  their  share  of  the  one-mill  tax 
and  primary  school  interest  fundi  But  if  this  is  not  provided  for  at  the  annual 
district  meeting,  the  district  board  must  make  provision  for  it. 

4Pub.  Stat.  Mass.  1882,  Chap.  44,  Sec.  28,  46-48. 

5R.  F.  Pettigrew,  Congressional  delegate  from  Dakota,  writes  as  follows  : 
"  Dakota  Territory,  at  least  that  portion  south  of  the  46th  parallel,  has  been 
settled  very  largely  by  people  from  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  Iowa,  Minnesota, 
Illinois  and  Indiana.  In  1880  there  were  100,000 people  in  Southern  Dakota; 
10,000  of  whom  were  born  in  Wisconsin,  6,000  in  Minnesota,  5,000  in  Iowa, 
4,000  in  Illinois,  and  4,000  in  Michigan,  over  2,000  in  New  York,  and  many 


Jfichtqan  and  iJte  JYorf/ttretif. 


21 


Montana,  equal  in  size  to  Dakota,  lias  too  small  a  population  as 
yet  (only  40,000)  for  township  organization  :  bill  here.  too.  over 
an  area  three  times  as  large  as  Pennsylvania,  we  find  school  dis- 
tricts, 105  in  number,  with  local  powers.'1 

The  same,  may  be  said  of  Idaho',  Washington  Territory",  Ore- 
gon8, Wyoming.  Colorado,  Nevada.  California.  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska.1" In  some,  as  p,  tj.  in  Idaho  and  Washington  Territory, 
the  people  do  not  have  tli3  entire  management  of  their  s  -ho  >'.s  in 
school  district  meeting,  for  the  county  commission  ts.  usually  three 
in  number,  assess  a  tax  of  from  one  to  eight  mills  on  a  dollar  in 
addition  to  funds  arising  from  the  sale  of  public  lands,  but  tin- 
voters  are  called  upon  to  elect  district  trustees,  to  vote  yes  or  n<< 
on  the  question  of  some  specified  sum  which  these  trustees  may 
propose  as  a  local  tax.  and  also  to  decide  in  district  meeting 
all  questions  relating  to  building,  repairing  or  removing  a  school- 
house. 

The  township  six  miles  square  is  impossible  in  Colorado,  where 
the  people  live  in  the  mountains  and  valleys,  along  the  banks  of 
streams,  or  in  long  narrow  belts  on  the  plains,  where  the  land  can 
be  irrigated.      Nevada  has  begun  township  organization,  although 

were  horn  in  the  New  Falkland  States.  The  township  organization  N  adopted 
as  each  county  becomes  sufficiently  settled  to  maintain  it.  It  is  adopted  by 
the  whole  county  by  the  votes  ol'  the  people.  ( Inly  the  older  counties  now 
have  the  township  organizations.  The  o'her  counties  are  adopting  tlii--\-- 
teni  a-  fast  as  they  obtain  sufficient  wealth  and  population.  TIm 
tion  but  what  within  a  \  cry  short  time  every  county  in  Dakota  will  po«si  >» 
the  township  system  similar  to  New  Falkland.  This  system  will  spread  into 
all  tin'  territories  of  the  Northwest.  It  is  the  bulwark  and  l'oiin  laiion  of 
institutions,  and  is  the  school  in  which  men  are  tauidit  the  science  of  self- 
government  more  than  any  other 

See  also  Ucv.  Stat.    1 S 7 7 .  Chap.  L':'.. 

"Report  for  1S7S   !l  of  Hon.   \V.   F.u'bert  Smith.  Ter.  Supt.  of  I'ublie  Instruc- 
tion, of  Montana. 

In   1.SS0,    N'.t  school  districts,    an    increase    of  ."..".    in    o;i  i; 

Ter.  Sii|it.  of  Kducatiou.  1S7!I    so,  p.  ;;((. 

"In  lssi,  :•:>(;  school  districts.  While  in  I-;:1.  :'•:•  n-p  rt.  '  1,'ep.  IVr. 
Supt.   l.ss] .  pp.  \\,  lo. 

" \  population  of  less  than  -i\  to  the  square  mile  rend.  ;  -  tow  i 
tion  impossible.       Nearly  all  of  the    L'li    counties    ha\c    each    an    :in-:i  n|ii:il  t" 
Delaware  and  Rhode  I-dand  united,  but  bete  al-o  we  lir.d  \  n  v 
of  local  (axes  in  the   lin>7  school  districts. 

'"Consult  the  School  Laws  and    Kdiicatinnal  Reports    of  the    I  d  and 

State  Supts.,  or  the  summary  given  in  the    Report  of  the  I      S    I 
of  Kducatiou  for  1  S7'.»  and  for  IsSii. 


Local  Government  in 


most  of  the  power  resides  in  the  county  commissioners.  Township 
organization,  similar  to  that  of  Indiana,  has  just  been  provided  for 
in  the  Constitution  of  California.  Kansas  has  999  townships, 
similar  to  those  of  Indiana,  with  township  officers  but  without  the 
town-meeting.  Provision  was  made  for  township  organization  in 
Nebraska,  in  the  Constitution  of  1877,  and  two  acts  in  accordance 
with  it  have  since  been  passed,  but  failed  to  become  law  ;  the  first 
act  being  declared  unconstitutional,  and  the  second,  in  1881,  being 
vetoed  by  the  governor  because  of  its  many  defects.  But  another 
attempt  will  soon  be  made.  In  Ohio,  and  Indiana,  and  Iowa,  the 
voters  are  required  to  approve  the  expenditure  of  money  for 
school  buildings  and  a  few  other  purposes,  though  nearly  all  other 
local  expenditures  are  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  township  and 
county  officers.  Missouri  adopted  optional  township  organization 
in  1879,  and  already  thirteen  of  the  114  counties  have  voted  it. 
As  might  be  expected,  the  great  trouble1  has  been  in  securing  the 
large  number  of  competent  officers  requisite  for  township  adminis- 
tration. Such  a  change  as  that  from  county  to  township  govern- 
ment cannot  be  made  in  one  year  or  five  j-ears.  It  is  only  of  the 
tendencj*  we  are  speaking.  In  Missouri  much  power  is  lodged  in 
the  voters  in  district  meeting,  but,  as  elsewhere,  subject  to  strict 
limitations  in  the  amount  which  they  can  raise.  Thus  we  have 
found  that  the  increase  of  local  powers  has  been  unprecedented 
during  the  last  decade,  and  seems  destined  to  continue  until  all 
the  great  West  and  Northwest  have  experienced  its  benefits.  The 
following  table,  compiled  from  the  census  of  1880,  gives  some  of 
the  more  important  facts  concerning  local  self-government  in  those 
States  where  it  is  most  complete  : 


No. 
Townships. 

No. 
Counties. 

Population 

Maine, 

455 

16 

648,936 

New  Hampshire, 

230 

10 

346,991 

Vermont,  . 

239 

14 

332.286 

Massachusetts, 

320 

14 

1,783,085 

Connecticut, 

1G6 

8 

622,700 

Rhode  Island,  . 

3-4 

5 

275,531 

All  New  England, 

1,450 

67 

4,009,529 

New  York, 

937 

60 

5,082,871 

New  Jersey, 

236 

21 

1.131,116 

Illinois, 

1,008 

75 

2,649, 841a 

Michigan, 

1,054 

77 

1,636.937 

Wisconsin, 

891 

62 

1,314,497 

Minnesota, 

1,100 

72 

780,773 

6,676  434  16,605,564 

'Letter  from  State  Supt.  Public  Instruction,  July  23d,  1882. 
'Only  three  fourths  of  the  State  have  as  yet  adopted  township  organization. 


Michigan  and  the  Northwest.  2.) 

While  emphasizing  the  important  bearings  of  school  district 
organization  upon  the  development  of  local  government  in  the 
new  Northwest,  Ave  cannot  forbear  a  brief  reference  to  a  similar 
and  noteworthy  movement  in  an  older  section  of  our  I'nion. 

Now  that  the  large  plantations  of  the  South  are  being  divided 
and  manifold  industries  are  taking  their  place,  the  mechanic  and 
the  artisan  appear  at  the  cross-roads  and  form  the  nucleus  of  a 
village,  instead  of  finding  employment  on  the  lands  of  wealthy 
planters  ;  and  with  the  village  hamlet  comes  the  fust  beginning 
of  local  self-government.  A  few  towns  in  South  Carolina 
have  recently  incorporated  themselves  for  local  taxation  for 
school  purposes,  and  the  movement  is  spreading.'  Thanks  to  the 
increasing  agitation  of  prominent  Southern  educators,  the  people 
already  have  this  right  of  local  taxation  for  school  purposes  in 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,2  Virginia,3  and  West  Virginia  ;4  while  in 
Alabama,"'  by  recent  enactment,  the  school  ofllcers  are  required  to 
call  meetings  of  the  patrons  of  the  schools  and  consult  with  them 
concerning  school  matters.  These  movements  toward  local  govern- 
ment are  very  recent  and  will  doubtless  increase  if  the  national 
government,  in  giving  money  to  public  education,  as  is  proposed. 
shall  couple  it  with  the  condition  that  an  equal  amount  shall  1  e 
raised  by  local  taxation.  Some  of  the  Northwestern  States  have 
long  done  this,  withholding  aid  from  districts  which  failed  to  main- 
tain schools  for  a  certain  number  of  months  in  the  year.  We  are 
again  reminded  of  the  words  of  Jefferson0  when  writing  of  this  very 
subject — local  incorporation  for  schools — he  remarks:  ••Where 
every  man  is  a  sharer  in  the  direction  of  his  ward-republic  [<  .  </. 
school  district  or  township]  or  of  some  of  the  higher  ones,  and 
feels  thai  lie  is  a  participator  in  the  government  of  affairs,  not 
merely  at  an  election  one  day  in  the  year,  but  every  day:  when 
there  shall  not  be  a  man  in  the  State  who  will  not  be  a  member  of 
some  one  of  its  councils,  great  or  small,  he  will  let  the  In-art  he 
torn  out  of  his  body  sooner  than  [allow  ]  his  power  [  to  ]  be  wrested 

'Report  State  Supt.  of  S.  ('.,  1MS1,  pp.   11,  1.".,  advocate-  it  -tmnulv. 

2 1 n  cities  ami  incorporate  towns  by  ad  of  legislature  in  Issi,  -> ■<•  Iicpuri 
State  Supt.  Tennessee,   ISSI,  p.  (». 

:lSee  School  Laws,  anil  Report  of  I'.  S.  Com.  of  K  lueatioii.  1  ss ! . 

U.lem. 

'School  Law-,  ed.  of  Issi,  pp.   \r,.  Hi. 

"Letter  to  Joseph  C.  Cabell.  Ks<j.,  Feb.  J.l,  Islfi.  Writing,  \»1.  VI  .  p. 
.Ml. 


24  Local  Government  in 

from  him  by  a  Cresar  or  a  Bonaparte.  How  powerfully  did  we 
feel  the  energy  of  this  organization  in  the  case  of  the  embargo.  I 
felt  the  foundations  of  the  government  shaken  under  my  feet  by 
the  New  England  townships.  There  was  not  an  individual  in  their 
States  whose  body  was  not  thrown  with  all  its  momentum  into 
action  ;  and  although  the  whole  of  the  other  States  were  known  to 
be  in  favor  of  the  measure,  yet  the  organization  of  this  little  selfish 
minority  enabled  it  to  overrule  the  Union.  What  would  the  un- 
wieldy counties  of  the  middle,  the  south  and  the  west  do?  Call  a 
county  meeting,  and  the  drunken  loungers  at  and  about  the  court 
houses  would  have  collected,  the  distances  being  too  great  for  the 
good  people  and  the  industrious  generally  to  attend.  The  character 
of  those  who  really  met  would  have  been  the  measure  of  the  weight 
they  would  have  had  in  the  scale  of  public  opinion.  As  Cato.  then, 
concluded  ever}T  speech  with  the  words,  '-Carthago  dele/ida  est,' 
so  do  I  every  opinion,  with  the  injunction,  'divide  the  counties 
into  wards.'  Begin  them  onty  for  a  single  purpose  ;  the}'  will  soon 
show  for  what  others  they  are  the  best  instruments." 

The  wish  of  Jefferson  seems  destined  to  be  fulfilled.  As  the 
New  England  town  was  built  up  about  the  church,  so  the  Western 
and  Southern  town  is  centering  its  political  activity  about  the  school. 
It  is  also  noteworthy  that  it  is  in  the  local  government  of  the 
school  district  that  woman  Suffrage  is  being  tried.  Says  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Education,  John  Eaton,  in  his  last  report  r1 
"Women's  opportunities  to  influence  education  as  voters  and 
school  officers  have  been  greatly  enlarged  [during  1880-1881]. 
They  may  vote  at  school  meetings  in  Kansas,  Nebraska,  New 
Hampshire,  Vermont,  Dakota,  and  Wyoming ;  at  school  elections 
in  Colorado  and  Minnesota ;  and  for  members  of  school  com- 
mittees in  Massachusetts.  They  can  vote  at  school  meetings  in 
Michigan  and  New  York  if  they  are  tax-payers  ;  in  Washington 
Territory  if  they  are  liable  to  taxation.  Widows  and  unmarried 
women  in  Idaho  may  vote  as  to  special  district  taxes  if  they  hold 
taxable  property.  In  Oregon,  widows  having  children  and  taxable 
property,  may  vote  at  school  meetings.  In  Indiana,  '  women  not 
married  nor  minors,  who  pay  taxes  and  are  listed  as  parents, 
guardians,  or  heads  of  families,  may  vote  at  school  meetings.' 
In  Kentucky,  any  white  widow  having  a  child  of  school  age,  is  a 
qualified  school  voter ;  if  she  has  no  child,  but  is  a  taxpayer,  she 

'Kcport  of  U.  S.  Com.  Ed.,  1880,  p.  XXV. 


Michigan  and  the  Xorthwest, 


•2;> 


may  vote  on  the  question  of  tuxes.  Women  are  eligible  t« »  school 
offices  generally  in  Illinois,  Iowa.  Kansas.  Louisiana,  Massa- 
chusetts, Michigan,  Minnesota,  Pennsylvania.  Vermont  and 
Wyoming;  to  school  district  oil  ices  in  Colorado;  to  anv  office 
except  State  Superintendent  in  Wisconsin.  They  may  serve  on 
school  committer  in  New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island,  as  school 
trustees  in  New  Jersey,  and  as  school  visitors  in  Connecticut. 
Some  ofliees  are  open  to  them  in  .Maine,  and  all  ollices  in  Califor- 
nia, unless  specially  forbidden  by  the  constitution.  In  I  tali,  no 
discrimination  on  the  ground  of  sex  is  made  as  to  voting  in 
general." 

If  society  be  an  organism  wherein  the  good  of  each  member  is 
the  good  of  the  whole,  then  the  importance  of  local  self-govern- 
ment is  established.  For  does  not  this  system  of  self-government 
bring  to  the  masses  that  self-respect  and  feeling  of  equality  before 
the  law  which  is  a  prime  condition  of  progress?  Docs  it  not  also 
compel,  for  the  sake  of  self-protection  on  the  part  of  the  more 
cultured,  such  attention  to  public  education  as  will  give  the 
humblest  citizen  the  means  of  determining  what  is  for  his  true 
interest  and  or  that  of  society?  History  gives  but  one  answer. 
We  note  a  growing  tendency  to  give  the  general  government  more 
control  over  vast  public  interests,  such  as  railroads  and  telegraph-  : 
and  with  the  improvement  of  the  civil  service  this  form  of  central- 
ization will  be  rapidly  developed.  We  also  note  a  corresponding 
increase  of  local  power  over  matters  of  purely  local  interest. 
Centralization  of  national  interests,  in  so  far  as  we  can  properly 
speak  of  centralization  under  a  republican  government,  and  decen- 
tralization of  local  interests,  are  principles  not  contradictory  but 
harmonious,  and  they  are  coming  into  prominence  with  every 
decade  of  our  history.  Methods  may  change,  but  progress  is 
still  the  watchword,  and  the  nation  still  lives  in  the  strength  and 
devotion  of  eiti/ens  whose  powers  have  been  developed,  whose 
self-respect  lias  been  aroused  under  the  American  principle  ol 
local  self-gevernment . 


VI 


PARISH  INSTITUTIONS 


MARYLAND 


"The  Parish,  as  we  see  it  in  Western  Christendom,  owes  its  origin  to  several  causes, 
and  is  the  final  result  of  several  earlier  forms.  The  TTapoucia  of  early  days  was  neither 
a  parsjh  nor  a  diocese,  but  the  community  of  Christians  living  within  a  city  or  a  dis- 
trict, regarded  in  relation  to  the  non-Christian  population  which  surrounded  it.  Every 
such  community  seems  to  have  had  a  complete  organization,  and  there  is  no  trace  of 
the  dependence  of  any  one  community  upon  any  other." — Hatch,  Organization  of  the 
Early  Christian  Churches  (Bampton  Lectures,  1880.) 

"The  limits  of  parishes  were  probably,  in  almost  all  cases,  fixed  by  the  previously 
existing  organization.  Where  the  Roman  organization  prevailed,  the  Parish  was  the 
pagus,  vicus,  or  castellum,  with  its  surrounding  territorium.  Where,  as  in  Euglaud,  the 
Roman  organization  had  been  almost  completely  swept  away,  the  Parish  was  identical 
with  the  township  or  the  manor.  .  .  .  Between  Parishes,  as  between  townships,  were 
frequently  tracts  of  more  or  less  unsettled  or  common  laud,  on  which  chapels  might 
be  erected  without  trenching  on  any  parochial  right." — Hatch," Parish"  in  Smith's  Dic- 
tionary of  Christian  Antiquities. 

I 

"  As  the  kingdom  and  shire  were  the  natural  sphere  of  the  bishop,  so  was  the  town- 
ship of  the  single  priest;  and  the  parish  was  but  the  township  or  cluster  of  townships 
to  which  that  priest  ministered.  .  .  .  The  parish  and  the  township,  have  existed  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years  side  by  side,  identical  in  area  and  administered  by  the  same 
persons,  and  yet  separate  in  character  and  machinery.  .  .  .  The  parish,  then,  is  the 
ancient  vicus  or  tun-scipe  regarded  ecclesiastically." — Stubbs,  Constitutional  History  of 
England. 

"The  earliest  records  which  we  have  of  the  proceedings  of  Parliament,  find  Parishes 
treated  as  the  known  and  established  integral  subdivisions  of  the  hundred.  ...  It  is 
decisive  of  the  point  as  to  the  identity  of  the  Parish,  as  an  Institution,  with  the  'lylhing 
of  freemen  and  their  tythingman,  that  the  existence  of  a  separate  constable  is  an 
unquestionable  criterion  of  the  separate  recognition  of  a  Parish." — Toulmin  Smith,  The 
Parish. 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

1  s 

Historical   and    Political    S  c  i  e  n  c  e 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 


History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History. —  FYreman 


VI 


PARISH  INSTITUTIONS 


MARYLAND 


With  Illustrations  from  Parish  Records 


By  EDWARD    INGLE,  A.  B. 


i:  a  i.t  r  m  o  k  i: 

Pum.lsiiKU  my  Tin:  .Johns  Hopkins  I'mvuimtv 

a  run.,  iks:i. 


JOHN  MURPHY  A  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


PARISH    INSTITUTIONS 

O  K 

MARYLAND.* 


Before  the  last  years  of  the  seventeenth  century  hut  few 
Church  of  England  ministers  had  been  attracted  to  the  colony 
planted  by  Lord  Baltimore  on  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake. 
Those  who  had  ventured  to  take  up  an  abode  (here  were 
supported  mainly  by  voluntary  contributions,  with  now  and 
then  a  legacy,  or  by  the  produce  of  their  farms.  Frequent 
complaints  were  made  to  England  of  the  low  state  of  morality 
and  religion  in  the  Province.  Movements  were  started  with 
a  view  of  checking  these  evils,  and  the  result  was  the  passing 
in  1G92  of  an  "Act  for  the  Service  of  Almighty  God  and  the 
Establishment  of  the  Protestant  Religion"  in  Maryland. t 
Agreeably  to  such  provisions  the  justices  and  freeholders  of 


*In  the  library  left  by  the  late  Bishop  "Whittingham  to  the  Diocese  of 
Maryland,  there  is  a  rare  collection  of  materials  illustrating  the  social, 
civil  and  religious  history  of  the  Province  and  State  of  Maryland.  Copies 
of  manuscripts  found  in  English  libraries,  original  parish  records,  parish 
histories,  a  remarkable  collection  of  Maryland  laws  and  documents,  tie- 
diaries,  letters  and  sermons  of  early  Maryland  clergy-  the-e,  if  properly 
handled,  could  be  made  fresh  and  interesting  source-  of  knowledge  upon 
many  point.-  of  our  history.  From  such  materials  in  part  has  been  drawn 
the  following  paper  upon  the  Parish  Institution-  of  Maryland.  Bacon'* 
"Laws"  have  been  the  basis;  but.  inasmuch  a-  one  mu.-t  ret  believe  that 
measures  succeeded,  simply  because  enactment-  favoring  them  are  t"  he 
found  in  tin;  statute  books,  every  point  made  in  this  >keteh  has  been  veri- 
fied, it  is  believed,  by  concrete  examples. 

f  Bacon,  lu'JU,  Chap.  II. 


6  Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

each  of  the  ten  counties  divided  their  respective  counties  into 
parishes,  varying  in  size  according  to  their  number  of  taxa- 
bles.*  A  fine  of  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  was  imposed 
upon  Sabbath-breakers,  and  was  to  be  used  for  the  benefit  of 
the  poor  of  the  "  Parish,  City  or  borough  "  where  the  offence 
should  be  committed. 

In  the  newly  settled  country,  a  meeting  of  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  a  parish  in  Vestry  was  well  nigh  impossible.  This 
probably  was  a  reason  for  the  adoption  of  the  representative 
system  of  Select  Vestries,  a  usage  that  had  already  sprung  up 

♦All  males  and  all  female  slaves  of  the  age  of  sixteen  years  and  over 
were  taxables,  except  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  who  had 
benefices  in  the  Province,  paupers,  and  disabled  slaves.  Bacon,  1715, 
Chap.  XV,  5. 

"Within  four  years  the  counties  had  been  divided  into  thirty-one  par- 
ishes, (Historical  Collections  of  the  American  Colonial  Church.  Maryland, 
p.  13).  At  first  the  parishes  were  contained  within  the  limits  of  the 
county ;  but  later,  as  the  number  of  counties  and  parishes  increased,  some 
parishes  lay  in  parts  of  two  and  even  three  counties.  The  hundreds  were 
not  of  necessity  integral  parts  of  the  parish,  although  they  were  made  the 
basis  of  the  new  division.  It  is  probable  that  the  hundreds  had  been  laid 
out  according  to  natural  boundaries,  i.  e.,  the  rivers  and  their  tributaries, 
and  the  parishes  were  subject  to  the  same  idea,  as  may  be  seen  from  such 
of  their  names  as  Herring  Creek,  Middle  Neck,  South  River,  &c.  In  the 
Records  of  Baltimore  County  Court,  1692,  fol.  338,  is  the  following:  "  We 
do  think  fit  to  order  that  one  parish  be  in  Spesutia?  hundred  and  another  in 
Gunpowder  river  hundred."  In  the  same,  1693,  fol.  126:  "We,  the  vestry- 
men for  Patapsco  hundred,  met  together  at  the  house  of  Maj.  John  Thomas." 
The  word  "hundred  "  was  used  here  not  for  "parish  "  but  simply  to  des- 
ignate the  parish  until  a  proper  title  had  been  given.  Thus  in  the  June 
Court,  1693,  fol.  115,  it  is  shown  that  "the  vestrymen  of  this  parish  of 
Gunpowder  hundred  "  had  agreed  to  build  a  church  on  Elk  Neck,  Gun- 
powder river,  and  to  call  the  parish  Copley  (later  St.  John's).  As  popu- 
lation became  denser,  the  number  of  hundreds  in  the  county,  without  regard 
to  parish  bounds,  became  greater,  so  that  frequently  one  hundred  was  in 
two  parishes.  So  much  confusion  resulted  from  this,  that  finally  the 
County  Courts  were  empowered  to  lay  out  anew  the  hundreds  in  such  a 
manner  that  no  hundred  should  lie  in  more  than  one  parish.  When  a 
new  parish  was  to  be  erected  in  an  old  one,  the  consent  of  the  incumbent 
was  obtained,  and  then  a  petition  was  sent  to  the  Assembly  for  an  Act 
enabling  the  new  parish  to  be  made. 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  7 

from  other  causes  in  England. *  ]5y  Vestry  was  usually 
meant  the  house  or  room  where  parish  meeting-  were  held; 
hut  the  term  was  frequently  used  to  denote  not  only  the  place 
of  meeting,  but  also  the  assembly  itself,  and  the  members 
taken  collectively.  The  freeholders  chose  the  Vestry,  which 
was  a  corporate  body  for  the  holding  and  disposal  of  church 
property  and  the  acceptance  of  bequests. f  The  Act  of  1692 
with  some  later  ones  had  the  effect  of  organizing  Vestries,  of 
building  more  churches,  and  of  bringing  a  number  of  clergy 
into  the  colony,  but  there  was  still  felt  a  need  of  further  leg- 
islation in  regard  to  ecclesiastical  matters.  Accordingly,  in 
1702,  another  Act  became  the  law,  by  which  the  Church  of 
England  was  more  firmly  established  in  the  Province.* 

As  an  institution  of  Englishmen  the  parish  system  of  Mary- 
land was  based  upon  the  parish  laws  and  customs  of  the 
mother-land,  but  there  were  various  modifications  to  suit  the 
new  conditions.  The  materials  for  a  reconstruction  of  this 
system  are  meagre,  but  the  laws  on  the  subject  tell  what  had 
to  be  done,  and  various  parish  records  show  what  really  was 
done. 

The  Governor,  for  the  Proprietor,  inducted  a  Minister  into 
a  parish.  He  usually  made  appointments  from  nominees  of 
the  Bishop  of  London,  and  a  Vestry  was  obliged  to  accept 
whomsoever  the  Governor  sent.  Occasionally  he  consulted  the 
wishes  of  parishioners.  In  the  record  book  of  Prince  George's 
parish  is  a  cony  of  a   letter  from   Gov.  Sharpe  to  Mr.  Alex. 

*  For  a  condensed  statement  of  the  duties  and  capacities  of  English 
Vestries,  consult  "A  Compilation  containing  t  In •  Con>titulion  and  Canons 
of  the  1'.  K.  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Maryland,  A.  ,"  pp.  "d -■*»".  The 
subject  is  treated  at  length  by  Toulmin  Smith  in  "The  I'ari-h,''  and  by 
J.  F.  Archb'dd  in  "Shaw's  Parish  Law." 

•[•The  name  Vestry  is  derived  through  the  French  from  the  Latin  r«s- 
tiaritun,  from  vextis,  a  garment. 

+  Bacon,  1701  2,  Chap.  I.  In  1700  an  Act  had  bee,  pu<-ed  and  sent  to 
the  King  in  Council.  It  was  not  approved  in  all  it-  part-,  but,  having 
been  omitted  from  the  general  repeal,  was  ,-ent  back  with  amendment.-  In 
.Maryland.     Tins  former  Act  amended  was  the  Act  "t    1701-1.'. 


8  Pariah  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

Williamson,  whom  he  had  licensed  "to  act  as  curate"  until 
another  rector  might  be  appointed,  "  which  step,"  the  letter 
states,  "  I  conceive  would  be  more  agreeable  to  the  Parish- 
ioners than  if  I  were  immediately  to  induct  that  gentlemen." 
The  people  thought  they  ought  to  have  the  privilege  of 
choosing  their  own  rector,  as  they  were  the  ones  who  con- 
tributed towards  building  churches,  and  paid  the  salaries  of 
incumbents.  In  1768  one  of  the  parishes  refused  to  receive 
ministers  presented  by  Lord  Baltimore  through  his  Governor, 
and  upon  an  appeal  to  English  Courts,  a  decision  was  given 
in  favor  of  the  parish.*  But  as  a  rule  Vestries  accepted  the 
Governor's  appointee,  and,  when  they  had  done  this,  they 
could  not  rid  themselves  of  him  unless  he  chose  to  resign. 
There  are,  however,  accounts  of  unpopular  ministers  having 
been  mobbed  and  locked  out  of  church.  In  one  parish  after 
the  death  of  the  incumbent,  the  long  dissatisfied  parishioners 
requested  the  Governor  not  to  induct  another  rector  so  disa- 
greeable to  them. 

For  the  support  of  the  clergy,  forty  pounds  of  tobacco  were 
levied  each  year  upon  every  taxable.  The  Constable  of  the 
hundred  made  a  list  of  the  names  of  all  taxables  and  gave  it 
to  the  Sheriff.  He,  after  collecting  the  tobacco  and  deducting 
five  per  cent,  as  a  fee,  paid  the  remainder  to  the  incumbents 
of  the  parishes  in  the  county.  As  there  was  not  an  over 
abundance  of  prayer-books  in  use  among  congregations,  every 
minister  had  to  keep  a  clerk  who  acted  for  the  congregation. 
One  can  almost  see  him  in  his  desk  below  the  pulpit,  and 


♦Coventry  Parish,  Somerset  County.  This  parish  had  been  contending 
for  its  rights  for  a  long  time.  In  1749  the  Vestry  had  indicted  a  newly 
presented  rector  for  breaking  into  the  parish  church,  the  doors  of  which 
had  been  closed  against  him.  The  minister  was  acquitted  only  by  the 
vote  of  the  chief  justice.  One  of  the  ministers  appointed  to  the  parish 
declared  that  he  had  been  threatened  with  a  ducking  in  a  mill  pond,  and 
that  armed  resistance  had  been  made  against  him.  A  full  history  of  the 
troubles  is  given  in  Dr.  E.  Allen's  manuscript  "  History  of  Coventry 
Parish." 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  <) 

hear  him  making  the  responses  in  sonorous  tones,  or  lining 
out  the  hymns.  It  is,  perhaps,  a  warm  June  morning,  and 
while  the  elders  are  peacefully  dozing,  the  youths  east  lowing 
glances  through  doors  or  windows  towards  their  sleek  steeds* 
fastened  in  a  shady  spot  convenient  to  the  "upping  block,*' 
or  they  watch  with  interest  the  efforts  of«a  Church  Warden 
to  drive  some  stray  dog  from  the  church.  Those  who  are 
not  overcome  by  the  general  drowsiness,  join  in  the  singing, 
or  patiently  hearken  to  the  delivery  of  the  usually  prosy 
sermon,  or  to  the  reading  of  the  penal  laws  of  the  Province. 
Service  over,  the  congregation  breaks  up  into  groups,  some 
reading  the  notices  posted  at  the  church  door,  others  discussing 
the  latest  bits  of  news,  the  prospects  of  a  fine  tobacco-crop, 
and  others  exchanging  friendly  greetings.  At  last  the  few 
stragglers  disappear  and  the  rector  wends  his  wav  to  the 
''glebe."  In  many  parishes  there  were  glebe-lands,  which 
the  incumbent  either  occupied  or  rented.  Glebes  were  gen- 
erally donated  to  the  parish,  but  when  there  was  no  minister, 
and  the  church  property  needed  no  repairs,  the  parish  funds 
could  be  expended  in  buying  and  stocking  a  glebe.  The 
incumbent  did  not  always  insist  upon  everybody's  paying  the 
tax  for  his  support.  In  1712.  the  rector  of  the  parish  where 
Charles-town  had  been  recently  laid  out,  declared  that  all 
persons  taking  up  their  abode  in  the  new  town  should  be  free 
from  such  a  tax.f  lie  must  have  been  either  a  man  of  means, 
or  settled  in  a  wealthy  parish.  Many  of  the  clergy  wen; 
poorly  compensated  for  the  labor  and  trouble  they  were  com- 
pelled  to  undergo.  |     The  parishes  were  very  large,  and   the 


*  "  Thoy  arc  nil  sjroal  horsemen  iuitl  have  so  much  v : 1 1 1 n ■  (••r  the  -mid If, 
tliat  nilhiT  than  walk  to  church  five  miles,  they  will  l'"  ei^ht  '•>  catch 
their  horses  and  riile  there,  so  that  you  would  think  the  churches  looked 
like  the  outside  skirts  .•!'  u  country  horsefnir."  —"Itinerant  Observations 
in  America,"  Lond.   Maer.  1 745-0.     Reprinted  in  Coll.  (Jeor^ia  Hist    Soc 

:  Huron,  174.',  Chap.   XXIII,  18. 

+  Kxtracts  from  a  letter  written  in  1711  by  Ah  \  Adam-  to  the  liishop 
of  London,  [lli-l.  Coll.  Amer.  Col.  Ch.  Mil  ,  p.  f,:>) :  "For  the-e  four 
•) 


10  Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

parishioners  lived  scattered  in  every  direction.  The  minister 
was,  therefore,  obliged  to  travel  about  on  horseback  in  order 
faithfully  to  discharge  his  duties  to  his  congregation.  The 
clergy,  however,  enjoyed  certain  immunities  and  small  emolu- 
ments. They  were  not  taxed  and  were  exempt  from  militia 
service.  It  was  quite  usual  for  them  to  receive  a  fee  for 
delivering  a  sermon  at  the  funeral  of  a  wealthy  parishioner. 
If  a  minister  was  in  the  parish,  a  lay  magistrate,  who  dared 
perform  the  marriage  ceremony  was  liable  to  a  heavy  fine  of 
tobacco.  Banns  were  published  in  the  parish  to  which  the 
prospective  bride  belonged,  and  her  rector  received  the  fee. 
If  there  was  no  incumbent,  the  Governor  granted  a  license 
and  then  any  minister  could  officiate  at  the  wedding. 

An  Act  was  passed  in  1704*  to  secure  the  parishes  in  the 
possession  of  their  libraries,  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bray  had 

years  I  alone  have  served,  as  a  Presbyter  of  the  Church  of  England,  the 
whole  County  of  Somerset,  consisting  of  four  parishes,  so  that  six  Con- 
gregations are  supplied  by  me,  which  obliges  me  to  travel  200  miles  per 
month,  besides  my  pastoral  charge  in  my  own  parish  (Stepney),  which 
has  a  church  and  chapel,  and  is  near  30  miles  in  length,  and  some  16  or 
18  miles  in  breadth,  which  possibly  is  a  labour  that  few  in  America  un- 
dergo :  yet,  my  Lord,  1  can't  subsist  without  some  assistance,  for  Tobacco, 
our  money,  is  worth  nothing,  and  not  a  Shirt  to  be  had  for  Tobacco  this 
year  in  all  our  County:  and  poor  ten  shillings  is  all  the  money  I  have 
received  by  my  Ministry  and  perquisites  since  October  last." 

11 1  humbly  desire  your  Lordship  to  send  me  a  Letter  to  be  chaplain  to 
some  man-of-war  that  comes  to  convey  the  Virginia  Fleet  next  year,  and 
after  1  have  got  some  money  by  being  chaplain  aboard  to  pay  my  Debts 
(which  are  not  very  considerable  as  yet),  I  assure  your  Lordship  I  am 
resolved  to  return  to  my  Parish  as  soon  as  times  amend,  and  I  can  com- 
fortably subsist  among  them." 

"  Our  Cloathing,  household  furniture,  Malt,  beer,  sugar,  spice,  Coffee, 
Tea,  and  such  Things  generally  come  from  England,  and  are  sold  by  ye 
mereht8  here  at  above  one  hundred  ^  cent.  The  expense  of  living  here 
is  generally  valued  doubl.  w^  it  is  in  England."  (Ibid.  p.  138).  Many 
of  the  clergy  were  for  a  long  time  without  surplices,  and  some  were  com- 
pelled to  teach  in  order  to  gain  a  livelihood. 

*  Bacon,  1704,  Chap.  LVI.  Papers  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bray,  Lond.  1699, 
p.  32.  For  a  life  of  Dr.  Bray,  see  Hawks,  "  P.  E.  Church,  U.  S.,"  Vol. 
II,  pp.  83-114,  and  Todd's  "Life  and  Designs  of  Dr.  Bray,"  London, 
1808. 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  1 1 

suggested,  and  at  considerable  expense,  had  procured  for  "the 
Incouragement  and  Promoting  of  Religion  and  Learning  in 
the  Foreign  Plantations,  and  to  Induce  such  of  the  Clergy 
of  this  Kingdom  as  are  Persons  of  Sobriety  and  Abilities  to 
accept  of  a  Mission  into  those  Parts."  Two-thirds  of  the 
books  sent  to  America  were  bestowed  upon  the  parishes  in 
Maryland.  The  parish  library  belonged  to  the  incumbent, 
who  was  held  accountable  for  the  books  to  the  Governor  and 
Council,  and  to  the  Vestry,  and  had  to  pay  triple  co.it  for  any 
damages.  When  he  removed,  he  had  to  deliver  to  the  Vestry 
the  library  in  as  good  a  condition  as  possible.  As  the  books 
were  "  for  the  sole  Use  of  the  Minister,"  they  were  mostly 
theological  and  classical  works.  Put  at  least  one  collection, 
it  seems,  provided  against  temporal  as  well  a<  spiritual  foes. 
In  it  were  contained,  besides  "Catechetical  Lectures,"  "The 
Lawfulness  of  Common  Prayer,"  and  "The  Whole  Duty  of 
Man,"  a  book  on  "Martial  Discipline,"  one  on  Articles  of 
War,  a  perspective  glass,  a  pocket  compass,  and  a  dark 
lantern. 

The  Vestries  were  required  to  inspect  twice  a  year  the  parish 
libraries,  but  they  must  have  neglected  their  duty  in  this 
respect,  for  few  if  any  of  the  books  are  known  to  exist.* 

Dr.  Bray  wrote  in  1700  that  the  Governor  of  Maryland 
had  caused  an  Act  to  be  passed  whereby  free  schools  were  to 
be   established   for  the  propagation   of  the  Gospel,  and  the 

*Tlie  following  extract  from  "Notes  and  Queries, "  Oct.  7,  IsS'J,  may 
in  some  degree  explain  their  disappearance!:  "1  can  well  remember  in 
1852  paying  my  lirst  visit  to  Beverly  and  inspecting  tin*  noble  perpen- 
dicular of  St.  Mary  in   that  town In  one  of  the  vestries  in   the 

north  transept  was  a  small  library,  consisting  mainly  "I  goodly  folios, 
chiefly  theological,  covered  with  dust,  in  a  most  dilapidated  condition, 
and  I  \v:i<  then  informed,  the  tires  in  the  church  had  u«ualiy  been  lighted 
from  this  literary  source  for  some  time.  Thirteen  years  afterward  .... 
a  second  visit  was  paid  to  the  same  church,  then  undergoing  nMoratiori. 
The  pew-  had  gone  and  also  the  small  collection  in  the  library  had  become 
'  line  by  degrees,  ami  beautifully  le>-,'  for  it  was  apparently  reduo  1  to 
one  book,  a  copy  of  the  Hcxnpla.     .John  I'ickford,   M .  A." 


12  Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

education  of  the  youth  in  the  Province.  These  schools  were 
to  be  for  the  "instruction  of  youth  in  Arithmetic,  Navigation 
and  all  useful  learning,  but  chiefly  for  the  fitting  such  as  are 
disposed  to  study  divinity,  to  be  further  educated  at  his  Ma- 
jesty's College  Royal  in  Virginia."*  In  an  Act  of  J723,f 
it  is  stated  that  youths  were  to  be  educated,  so  that  they  might 
the  better  serve  Church  and  State.  It  is  probable  that  for 
the  purpose  of  looking  after  the  interests  of  the  Church,  one 
minister  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  seven  school  visitors 
in  his  county.  The  minister  may  have  occupied  this  position 
by  reason  of  his  attainments,  for  there  were  talented  men 
among  the  Maryland  clergy.  One  found  enjoyment  in  com- 
piling the  laws  of  the  Province,  and  superintending  a  manual 
labor  school,  another  was  clerk  of  the  upper  House  of  the 
Assembly,  while  not  a  few  kept  private  schools.  Such  con- 
scientious laborers  were,  however,  comparatively  rare.  It  was 
no  unusual  thing  for  ministers,  who  had  been  disgraced  at 
home,!  to  be  sent  to  .America  to  reform.  Reformation  did 
not  always  take  place.  Many,  removed  from  the  restraints 
of  ecclesiastical  superiors,  became  careless  in  the  performance 
of  their  duties,  and  some,  indeed,  acquired  a  bad  reputation 
for  scandalous  living.  Drunkenness  was  their  chief  failing, 
but  more  heinous  crimes  were  committed  by  them.  One,  who 
had  enjoyed  his  parish  during  thirty  years,  had  become  dis- 
abled by  age.  Refusing  the  assistance  of  neighboring  clergy- 
men, he  authorized  his  clerk,  a  convicted  felon,  to  read  the 

*Md.  MSS.  in  the  Whittingham  Library,  p.  32. 

f  Bacon,  1723,  Chap.  XIX. 

jln  the  Hist.  Coll.  Amer.  Col.  Gh.  Md.,  pp.  128-129,  is  a  list  of  the 
clergy  in  Maryland  in  1722.  This  was  evidently  prepared  by  a  "Whig. 
The  following  are  some  of  the  descriptions:  "A  stickler  for  the  present 
happy  establishment,"  "A  Whig  &  an  excellent  scholar  &  good  liver," 
"An  Idiot  &  Tory,"  "A  Grand  Tory  &  a  Bake,"  "A  Whig  &  a  good 
Christian,"  "A  Whig  of  the  first  rank,  and  reputed  a  good  liver,  but  a 
horrid  preacher,"  "Tried  for  his  life  in  Virginia  for  shooting  a  man. 
Keformed."  The  story  of  the  notorious  Bennett  Allen  is  not  worth 
repeating. 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  13 

whole  service,  and  generally  neglected  his  other  parochial 
work.  The  Vestry  much  aggrieved  complained  of  his  conduct, 
and  also  accused  him  of  drinking,  quarreling,  and  fighting.* 
To  check  evils  of  this  kind  "Commissaries"  were  appointed, 
one  for  each  "  shore. "  These  held  visitations  from  time  to 
time,  and  investigated  complaints  from  parishes.  As  thev 
were  somewhat  ignorant  of  their  powers,  thev  were  hindered 
in  their  work,  and  accomplished  little  good  either  in  correcting 
abuses,  or  in  reconciling  the  people  in  general  to  the  existing 
Establishment. f  The  Assembly  passed  several  acts  unfavor- 
able to  the  clergy,  and  in  J  771  J  an  especially  stringent  one, 
by  which  every  minister  appointed  to  a  parish  was  compelled 
to  swear  that  he  had  no  "simoniacal  contract  for  his  benefice." 
li  he  were  absent  from  his  parish  one  month  at  a  time,  or 
two  months  during  the  year,  he  was  subject  to  a  fine  of  ten 
shillings;  if  a  Vestry  or  the  Church  Wardens  should  complain 
of  a  minister,  the  Grand  Jury  was  to  investigate  the  charges, 
and  if  these  were  sustained  the  offender  was  to  be  tried  bv  a 
court  consisting  of  three  clergymen,  three  laymen,  and  the 
Governor,  or,  if  he  was  not  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Knir- 
land,  by  the  first  person  on  the  list  of  the  Council,  who  was 
a  Churchman.  This  last  provision  was  most  obnoxious  to 
the  clergy,  who  thought  that  a  court  composed  in  part  ot 
laymen  smacked  of  I'resbvtcrianism,  and  should,  therelbre, 
be  abolished. 

But  the  greatest  historical  interest  centres  in  the  Vestrv  of 
which  the  Minister  was  "Principal."  In  every  parish  six 
select  Vestrymen  were  chosen  by  the  freeholders.  Kvcry 
Vestryman  subscribed  the  test,  took  the  special  oath  <>l  his 
ollice,  and  the  general  oaths  of  allegiance,  abjuration  and  a-so- 


*llist.  C«»ll.  Amer.  Col.  Ch.  Mil.,  pp.  l-'H)    KM. 

|  Tin?  Commissaries   were   opposed    on   all    Miles.       In    "lie 
minister  \vln>  was  preparing  to  sue  the  Commis-arv  It  ilmna^'"-,  w;i- 
prisventeil   I'll  .in   mi  doing   liy  falling   in    a  ilrunk'ii    li"    ii 
Inirning  to  death.     See  Sprague's  Annul-,  pp.  :{•!    ".7.  ILiwU.-    \'         II 
lis  L'iO,  Hist.  Coll.  Amer.  ('..].  Cli.  Mil.,  pp.  Hi)    I    I.  ai.d  .1-    wli 

I  lluiisoii,  1771,  Chap.  XXXI. 


14  Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

ciation,*  which  were  administered  at  the  first  election  by  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  afterward  by  the  "  Principal."  The 
legal  time  for  elections  was  every  Easter  Monday,  when  the 
two  Vestrymen  who  had  served  longest,  were  dismissed,  and 
others  appointed  in  their  place.  No  one  could  serve  as  Ves- 
tryman more  than  one  year  in  three.  This  law  was  strangely 
misconstrued  by  some,  for,  in  one  parish,  some  members  of 
the  Vestry  were  elected  for  a  period  of  three  years,  and  actu- 
ally obeyed  the  decree  of  the  parishioners,  and  that  too  in 
a  town  where  the  law  should  have  been  best  understood,  for 
County  Court  was  held  there.  The  only  qualifications  neces- 
sary for  a  Vestryman  were,  that  he  should  be  "sober  and 
discreet"  and  not  a  member  of  the  Romish  Church.  Keepers  of 
ordinaries  were  excused  from  acting,  and  a  certain  Mr.  Caswell 
was  prevented  from  continuing  in  a  Vestry  by  reason  of  his 
being  coroner.  Some  Vestrymen  were  not  even  open  pro- 
lessors  of  religion.  They  were  generally  men  well  known 
and  of  good  report  in  the  parish.  For  instance,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Piscataway  Parish  elected  as  foreman  of  the  Vestry, 
Mr.  John  Addison,  who  was  at  the  time  a  member  of  the 
Governor's  Council  and  Chief  Justice  of  Charles  County.  In 
the  same  Vestry  were  other  prominent  men.  These  were  not 
chosen,  it  should  be  remembered,  with  a  view  of  connecting 
their  civil  functions  with  those  of  Vestrymen,  but  because  it 
was  believed  they  would  not  abuse  the  confidence  reposed  in 
them.  Occasionally  accidents  prevented  the  holding  of  elec- 
tions at  the  proper  time,  in  which  case  the  old  Vestry  con- 
tinued in  office,  and  its  acts  were  approved  by  the  Assembly.f 
Two  Church  Wardens  were  elected  annually  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  Vestry,  but  were  always  reeligible.|     Their 

*  The  oath  of  association  was  taken  during  William's  reign  ;  the  oaths 
of  allegiance  and  abjuration  were  used  after  the  accession  of  George  1. 

f  Bacon,  1760,  Chap.  VI. 

X  "  William  Bruce,  Churchwarden  Elect  for  Christ  Church  Parish  in 
Calvert  County,  appeared,  &  alleged  he  was  exempted  from  the  Office  of 
Churchwarden,  being  a  Practitioner  of  Pbysick,  and  was  excused."  (Hist. 
Coll.  Amer.  Col.  Ch.  Md.,  p.  95). 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  15 

special  duties  were  to  take  care  of  the  church  linen,  "  pewter 
or  plate,"  and  to  provide  bread  and  wine  for  the  communion. 
Expenses  incurred  in  procuring  the  elements  were  defrayed 
by  parish  funds.  Sometimes  the  rector  took  charge  of  these 
matters.  An  entry  in  one  parisli  record  book  states  that  the 
Rev.  Edw.  Butler  had  given  up  the  "communion  furniture.'' 
In  another  we  read  that  the  Rev.  Alex.  Williamson  was  paid 
"five  pounds  five  shillings  for  finding  wine  for  the  parish  n-e 
for  over  a  year."  In  1765  the  Vestry  of  St.  -lames'  Parish 
ordered  that  "persons  intruding  into  other  persons'  pews 
should  be  taken  out  by  force  and  put  in  the  stocks."  The 
Church  Wardens  probably  executed  this  order,  for  they  had 
to  preserve  "  order  in  and  around  the  church."  When  the 
"Commissary"  held  a  visitation,  the  Wardens  met  him,  and 
gave  an  account  of  the  state  of  their  parishes.  At  the  onlv 
two  visitations  which,  it  is  known,  the  Wardens  attended,  thev 
were  required  upon  oath  to  report  at  the  next  visitation  the 
conduct  and  character  of  the  incumbents,  the  condition  of  the 
parish  property,  and  any  infringements  of  the  laws  relating 
to  Sabbath-breaking,  and  other  immoralities.  Vestrymen 
and  Church  Wardens  who  refused  to  serve  without  good 
excuse  were  fined  one  thousand  pounds  of   tobacco. 

The  "Principal"  summoned  the  Vestry  meeting,  but,  that 
"nothing  might  be  done  unawares,"  the  first  Tuesday  in  each 
month  was  Vestry  day.  At  "eleven  of  the  clock,  forenoon," 
the  Vestry  met,  and  three  constituted  a  quorum.  In  some 
large  parishes  it  was  the  custom,  for  convenience,  to  meet  after 
service  on  Sundays.  Usually  there  was  a  small  Vestry-house, 
either  adjoining  or  close  by  the  church.  Absent  members 
could  be  fined.  Some  Vestrymen,  for  lack  of  something 
better  to  do,  spent  their  time  at  meeting  in  fining  their  absent 


*  An  Historical  Sketch  of  Anne  Arundel  County.  By  lev.  Tbeo.  ('. 
GarnbrHll,  I87ti.  Under  the  tobacco  Act  of  17'JS.  the  Clmr.h  Warden- 
were  ordered  to  summon  a  Vestry  meeting  to  till  vaeaneio.-  in  the  number 
of  counters. 


16  Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

brethren.      As  a  rule  such  fines  were  remitted  at  the  next 
meeting. 

After  a  long  ride  through  the  wilderness,  the  Vestrymen 
did  full  justice,  no  doubt,  to  the  provisions  for  their  refresh- 
ment. In  one  parish  "a  quart  of  rum  and  sugar  equivalent" 
and  "as  much  diet  as  would  give  the  vestry  a  dinner"  was 
prepared  by  the  sexton,  at  the  expense  of  the  parish.  As  this 
custom  caused  after  a  time  "great  scandal,"  it  was  abolished, 
and  each  Vestryman  was  required  to  furnish  his  own  dinner. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Vestry  were  recorded  in  a  book  by 
the  clerk  or  register,  chosen  and  paid  by  the  Vestrymen.  The 
register  kept  also  an  account  of  all  births,  marriages  and  fu- 
nerals in  the  parish.  Any  one  failing  to  give  notice  of  such 
occurrences  in  his  family,  was  liable  to  be  fined.  Refusal  to 
make  an  official  entry  in  the  register  book  was  punishable  by 
a  fine.  A  small  fee  was  given  the  clerk  for  searching  a  record, 
or  for  giving  a  certificate.  Notices  of  Vestry  meetings,  or 
concerning  other  parish  matters,  were  sent  by  the  clerk,  who 
also  presented  at  court  the  pleas  of  the  Vestry. 

Vestrymen  were  the  guardians  of  parish  property  and  the 
censors  of  parish  morals.  If  the  church  buildings  needed 
repairs  or  additions,  the  Vestry  contracted  for  improvements. 
If  the  Vestry  had  not  sufficient  means  to  pay  parish  charges, 
it  petitioned  the  County  Court  to  levy  a  tax.  This  tax  could 
not  exceed  yearly  ten  pounds  of  tobacco  per  poll.  As  a  parish 
became  more  thickly  settled,  or  if  the  church  was  not  conve- 
nient to  all  parishioners,  the  Vestry  summoned  them  to  decide 
whether  a  chapel  of  ease  should  be  built,  and  if  so,  where. 
If  a  chapel  was  desired,  a  petition  was  sent  to  the  Assembly 
for  an  Act  authorizing  the  parish  to  erect  one.  Voluntary 
subscriptions  or  taxes  imposed  by  the  County  Court  paid  for 
the  building  of  churches  and  chapels.  The  sites  selected  for 
these  edifices  were  generally  near  springs  or  wells,  in  order  to 
save  the  trouble  of  carrying  water.  The  land  was,  perhaps, 
given  outright  by  some  piously  disposed  parishioner,  and  if 
there  was  a  doubt  as  to  how  much  had  been  given,  two  acres 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  17 

were  surveyed  and  appropriated  for  the  purpose.*  Sometimes 
the  Vestry  bought  the  land.  In  the  laying  out  of  Maryland 
towns,  places  were  left  for  a  "church,  chapel,  market-house, 
or  other  public  buildings."  In  Annapolis  three  lots  were 
reserved,  one  for  the  use  of  tiie  minister,  one  lor  the  sexton 
and  parish  clerk,  and  the  remaining  one  for  the  Vestry's  clerk 
and  the  Commissary's  clerk. 

Before  the  churches  were  erected  services  were  held  in  the 
court-houses  or  in  private  residences.  Even  when  there  was 
a  parish  church,  such  places  were  used  for  worship,  in  order 
to  reach  every  parishioner.  The  churches  were  usually  built 
of  wood,  but  some  were  of  bricks  or  stone.  The  church  at 
Annapolis,  as  early  as  1704,  had  a  belfry  and  a  bell,  but 
most  churches  were  plain  structures  devoid  of  such  luxuries.! 
Besides,  in  a  parish  containing  at  least  thirty  square  miles,  a 
bell  would  have  been  of  little  use  for  calling  together  the 
congregation.  The  interiors  wen;  equally  free  from  orna- 
mentation. For  some  time  many  churches  were  without 
flooring  save  the  bare  earth,  and  they  were  not  even  plastered 
or  glazed.  As  the  parish  prospered,  floors  were  made  of  wood, 
bricks,  or  tiles.  The  pulpit  was  at  one  side  and  the  chancel 
at  one  end.  There  were  also  a  reading  desk,  or  "  pew,"  and 
"a  place  for  the  dark  to  sit  in." 

The  pews  were  high-backed,  with  seats  around  three  sides, 
and  sonietimes  had  doors  which  were  locked  against  intruders. 


*  Bacon,  1701,  Chap.  XXXVIII,  and  1722,  Chap.  IV. 
f  Tin;   Rev.  Joniitliiin    Boucher  wrote  in    1771    tin   epistle  from   the  "1<1 
church  lit  Annapolis.      Jt  appeared  in  tho  Md.  Gazette,  and   the  following 
is  an  abstract : 

"And  often  have  I  heard  ii  said 
Thill  some  \ntoA  people  are  afraid 
Lest  I  should  lunihle,  on  (heir  hind, 

Of  which,  indeed,  this  seems  n  |< I', 

They  seldom  come  heneuth  my  roof. 

While  I  alone,  not  worth  your  can' 
Am  lell  your  sad  neglect  to  hear  ; 
Here  in  Annapolis,  alone, 
<om|  has  the  mi  am  -I   house  in  I     \\  i 


18  Paiish  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

The  pews  were  either  "built"  by  individuals,  who  had  ob- 
tained the  sanction  of  the  Vestry,  or  bought  from  the  Vestry 
at  public  auction  or  private  sale.  As  they  were  very  large, 
some  of  them  seven  feet  by  five,  few  could  be  built  in  the 
church,  but,  as  the  congregation  grew,  galleries  were  erected, 
and  in  them  bench  pews  were  placed.  In  1774,  an  Act 
allowed  the  Vestry  of  St.  Ann's  Parish  to  build  a  new  church.* 
By  this  Act,  it  was  ordered  that  pews  should  be  made  to 
accommodate  the  Provincial  officers  and  Assemblymen,  stran- 
gers, the  incumbent,  Vestrymen,  and  Church  Wardens.  Those 
who  subscribed  most  towards  the  building-fund  were  to  have 
the  preference  in  the  choice  of  pews,  and  no  one  subscribing 
less  than  twenty  pounds  sterling  was  entitled  to  a  choice. 
No  person  could  have  more  than  one  pew.  Galleries  were  to 
be  built,  one  for  the  use  of  parishioners  in  general,  one  for 
servants,  and  one  for  slaves.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  sexton 
to  keep  in  good  order  the  church  and  churchyard,  and  some- 
times to  hang  the  greens  in  the  church  at  Christmas,  Easter 
and  Whitsuntide.  He  also  attended  to  the  digging  of  the 
graves,  and,  if  a  married  man,  undertook  to  keep  the  church 
linen  clean.  One  sexton  employed  himself  in  teaching  school 
in  the  Vestry-house.  It  was  not  a  rare  event  for  a  woman 
to  be  sexton. 

In  every  parish  church  in  Maryland,  the  Vestry  was  obliged 
to  set  up  a  table  of  forbidden  marriages,  and  to  do  all  that 
was  possible  to  prevent  infringements  of  such  laws.  The 
Vestry  of  St.  John's  Parish,  Baltimore  County,  cited  one  man 
to  appear  and  explain  his  marriage  with  his  deceased  wife's 
sister.  Another  was  summoned  for  uniting  himself  in  mat- 
rimony with  his  late  wife's  niece.  Both  failed  to  justify 
themselves,  so  the  clerk  was  ordered  to  present  them  to  the 
County  Court.  Where  there  was  no  rector,  the  Vestry  chose 
a  reader,  and  paid  him  from  the  proceeds  of  the  clergy-tax. 
A  coramiltee,  consisting  of  the  "principal  Vestryman  [here 

♦Hanson,  1774,  Chap.  XL 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  19 

the  oldest]  and  four  of  his  brethren  of  longest  standing,"  had 
to  render  to  the  Governor  an  account  of  all  expenditure-  of 
the  poll  tax  during  a  vacancy  in  their  parish,  but  this  law 
was  not  unfrequently  neglected.  The  committee  was  no  doubt 
•suggested  by  the  Reeve  and  four  best  men  who  represented 
the  old  English  town  or  parish.* 

In  the  year  1728,  an  Act  was  passed  restricting  the  exces- 
sive production  of  tobacco. f  Although  it  was  disallowed,  its 
provisions  were  carried  out  for  a  space  of  three  years.  Each 
Vestry,  having  divided  its  parish  into  "precincts,"  appointed 
for  each,  two  counters,  or  tellers,  of  tobacco  plants.  The 
counters  appeared  and  signified  to  the  Vestry  their  acceptance, 
and  the  names  of  those  who  refused  to  serve,  without  good 
reason,  were  presented  by  the  register  to  the  County  Court. 
Previous  to  1728,  the  Vestry  had  been  connected  in  another 
capacity  with  the  tobacco  interest,  for  Vestrymen  and  Church 
Wardens  were  included  among  the  officers  who  could  arrest 
persons  attempting  to  "run"  tobacco  from  the  Province.]; 
Some  years  later  Vestries  nominated  inspectors  §  of  the  staple. 
From  these  nominees,  who  had  to  be  "able  and  sufficient 
planters  well  skilled  in  tobacco,"  the  Governor  made  his 
appointments.  No  inspector  could  vote  at  the  choosing  of 
his  successor.  |j  It  is  obvious  why 'the  Vestries  were  con- 
cerned in  this  question.  Their  main  source  of  revenue  was 
the  tobacco,  and  it  was  to  their  interests  to  see  that  it  did  not 
become  depreciated. 


*See  "Constables."     By  It.  B.  Adams,  ]>.  11. 

f  Bacon,  17l'S,  Chap.  II.  As  this  Act  was  disapproved  it  is  not  i;iven 
in  full  in  Bacon's  Laws,  but  it  may  be  seen  in  the  Hist.  Coll.  Anier.  Col. 
Ch.  Md.,  pp.  270-280. 

+  Bacon,  1722,  Chap.  XVI. 

\  An  interesting  review  of  the  inspection  laws  of  Colonial  Maryland 
is  to  ho  found  in  the  Brief  of  Charles  J.  M.  Gwinn  in  the  ca-c  of  Turner 
vs.  State  of  Maryland,  U.  S.  Supreme  Court,  October  Term,  18*2.  Seo 
Note  in  University  Circulars,  February,  188J. 

"  Bacon,  1708,  Chap.  XVHI. 


20  Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

In  the  young  colony  inhabited  by  all  kinds  of  characters, 
it  is  not  surprising  to  learn  that  immorality  was  prevalent. 
But  means  were  at  hand  to  restrain  workers  of  iniquity. 
Persons  suspected  of  immoral  conduct  were  summoned  before 
the  Vestry,  "  to  show  cause  why  they  should  not  be  prose- 
cuted." Some  would  promise  to  marry,  others  to  separate. 
It  is  curious  to  note  that  a  month's  time  was  frequently 
allowed,  in  which  such  arrangements  were  to  be  consum- 
mated. This  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that,  in  many 
instances,  the  offender  was  a  bachelor  with  his  housekeeper, 
and,  in  case  of  separation,  he  had  to  provide  himself  with 
a  substitute.  If  the  Vestry's  summons  was  disregarded,  the 
guilty  parties  were  admonished  by  the  Minister,  or  by  a 
deputation  from  the  Vestry.  If  the  evil  practices  were  still 
continued,  information  of  such  a  state  of  affairs  was  sent  to 
the  clerk  of  indictment  at  the  County  Court,  where  the  fact 
of  admonition  already  given  was  sufficient  evidence  to  convict 
offenders.  Adulterers  and  the  like  were  fined,  or,  in  default 
of  fine,  could  be  whipped  till  the  blood  ran,  but,  after  1749, 
corporal  punishment  for  these  offences  was  abolished.  Persons 
who  swore  in  the  presence  of  a  Minister,  Vestryman,  or  Church 
Warden,  were  subject  to  a  fine.  Any  of  these  officers  could 
commit  to  the  stocks  for  an  hour  such  an  offender  who  did 
not  pay  his  penalty,  or  could  appoint,  in  the  absence  of  a 
Constable,  a  deputy  Constable  to  whip  the  aforesaid.  The 
lashes  could  not  exceed  thirty-nine  at  one  whipping. 

For  certain  misdemeanors,  penance  was  done.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Wilkinson  wrote  in  1724,  "It  has  been  owned  by  many 
that  there  was  a  visible  reformation  on  our  shore,  the  sight 
of  one  person  perform ing  penance  struck  a  greater  terror  upon 
all  offenders  than  all  the  pecuniary  and  corporeal  punishments 
which  the  secular  courts  inflict,  as  some  of 'em  have  publickly 
acknowledged."*  The  following  is  an  account  of  such  a  per- 
formance: "The  fifth  day  of  July  last  came  James  Campbell 

*  Jtliet.  Coll.  Amer.  Col.  Ch.  Md.,  p.  244. 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  21 

to  ye  Communion  table  and  asked  pardon  of  Col.  Blav  and 
Mr.  William  Comegys  for  calling  them  murderers  of  yc  parish  : 
at  ye  same  place  the  aforesaid  Campbell  did  condescend  to  pav 
what  Charge  should  Increw  upon  the  writ  that  was  served 
upon  him  for  his  fault."*  The  Vestry  of  St.  Thomas'  Parish 
cited  men  lor  running  their  mills  on  Sundays.  The  eccle- 
siastical censure  neither  injured  the  offender  in  property  or 
person,  nor  relieved  him  from  further  prosecution  by  the  civil 
authorities.  That  the  excuse  of  ignorance  might  not  be  made, 
every  Minister  was  required  to  read  from  the  chancel  four 
times  a  year  the  penal  laws  of  the  colony. 

Alter  Braddock's  defeat  it  was  thought  necessary  to  take 
special  measures  of  defence  against  the  Indians,  who  in  roving 
bands  had  come  very  near  the  settlements.  Accordingly,  to 
pay  for  an  increase  in  the  militia,  taxes  were  laid  upon  some 
additional  items,  among  these,  "  batchelors."  The  Vestrv 
prepared  every  year  a  list  of  all  such  delinquents  in  the 
parish,  who  were  over  twenty-five  years  old.  This  list  was 
then  fastened  upon  the  church-door,  (which,  in  Maryland,  was 
the  usual  place  for  advertising  parish  business),  and  when 
revised  and  corrected  was  sent  to  the  Sheriff  of  the  eountv.f 
Among  the  "  taxed  bachelors"  in  17G0  were  Gov.  Sharpe, 
Messrs.  Husband  and  Love,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mael'herson, 
rector  of  St.  Ann's,  Annapolis.  Although  the  clergy  were  not 
legally  taxable,  yet  a  number  of  them  appear  to  have  suffered 
from  this  imposition  upon  poor,  lone  bachelors.  The  Act 
continued  in  force  for  eight  years  when  it  ceased  by  limitation. 

*<>](!  Kent.  By  Hanson,  p.  35").  Penance  is  -till  dune  in  Krc_'land: 
"An  extraordinary  scene  was  witnessed  on  Sunday  evening  .Inly  'M),  at 
All  Saints' Church,  East  Clevedon,  when  a  man  named  Uw-'llyn  Harm-is 
did  public  nominee  for  the  seduction  of  a  servant  girl,  wh>>  imw  awaits 
her  trial  fur  manslaughter.  The  church  was  crowded  and  tin- vicar  I 
delivered  an  address  on  Church  discipline,  Hartree  cniife>-ed  hi-  -in  and 
promi.-ed  to  take  his  place  in  the  Assize  Court  next  to  the  unfortunate 
girl  upon  her  trial  at  Wells."  P.  126,  '•  Note*  and  Queries,"  An-;.  12,  1--'.'. 
;  Bacon,  175(1,  Chap.  V.  Mills  were  also  u.-ed  a.-  plat  -  -  for  :id\<  rti.-ing 
Mich  matters. 


22  Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

Many  Marylanders  no  doubt  owe  their  existence  to  this  tax, 
for  it  was,  to  say  the  least,  an  incentive  to  matrimony.  Many 
names  appear  but  once  in  the  list,  and  it  is  to  be  presumed 
that  their  owners  had  resolved  to  choose  the  less  of  two 
evils.  It  was  perhaps  because  "  misery  loves  company," 
or  possibly  from  the  belief  that  "in* union  is  strength"  that 
this  persecuted  class  sought  refuge  at  church  in  "bachelors' 
pews." 

As  regards  the  parish  poor,  colonial  laws  and  local  records 
afford  comparatively  little  information.  Legacies  were  occa- 
sionally left  to  the  Vestry  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,  by  whom 
were  no  doubt  meant  needy  ones  connected  immediately  with 
the  parish  church.  Where  there  were  endowed  public  schools, 
the  parish  had  generally  the  right  of  sending  a  certain  num- 
ber of  "  charity  scholars."  It  was  the  law  that  masters  of 
these  schools  were  to  be  licensed  by  the  ordinary,  and  were 
to  teach  their  scholars  the  Catechism,  and  were  to  bring  them 
to  church  on  Sundays  and  Holydays.  The  "Charity  School" 
founded  by  the  indefatigable  efforts  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Bacon 
was  aided  in  some  measure  by  "collections  at  the  Offertory  on 
Sacrament  Sundays."  To  this  school  negroes  could  be  sent 
and  taught  to  "  .Read  and  Write  and  instructed  in  the  Know- 
ledge and  fear  of  the  Lord,  gratis ;  but  maintained  at  the 
Expence  of  their  respective  Owners."*  After  a  great  fire 
in  Boston  (1760)  appeals  for  help  were  made  to  Maryland. 
Gov.  Sharpe  ordered  collections  to  be  made  in  all  the  churches, 
and  his  proclamation  met  with  a  liberal  response.  Of  the 
amount  raised,  members  of  the  Established  Church  contrib- 
uted five-sixths.  These  are  examples  of  the  church  charities 
of  early  times,  and  they  differed  little  in  principle  from  those 
of  the  present.     The  Vestrymen  were  also  the  bankers  of 


*  Bacon's  "  Sermon,  &c,"  Lond.,  1751.  The  negroes  were  not  neglected 
in  spiritual  concerns.  As  often  as  was  convenient  in  some  parishes  they 
were  instructed  and  catechised,  and  baptized.  Many  were  communicants 
in  the  churches.  , 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  23 

the    parish   and   lent   money   at   the   rate  of  four   per  cent. 
interest.* 

Tims  parish  life  went  on,  and  the  parishioners  were  in- 
structed in  the  school  of  liberty  by  exercising  what  little 
local  government  they  possessed  and  in  the  interchange  of 
opinions  at  the  Easter  elections  or  in  the  closer  assembly  of 
the  Vestry.  But,  from  its  beginning,  the  Established  Church 
in  Maryland  met  with  opposition.  Romanists  and  Dissenters 
very  justly  considered  that  it  was  an  injustice  for  them  to  be 
called  upon  to  contribute  towards  the  support  of  an  alien 
ecclesiastical  system,  whose  evils  but  not  whose  goods,  they 
were  accustomed  to  share.  Intelligent  observers  perceived 
that  the  clergy  were  likely  to  become  demoralized  by  their 
connection  with  the  civil  authority.  The  ill-feeling  was  ex- 
pressed in  many  ways.  In  1763,  the  salary  of  the  Minister 
was  reduced  one-quarter  .f  This  was  done  under  an  Act  for 
improving  tobacco.  Inasmuch  as  many  planters  had  been 
wont  to  reserve  the  worst  of  their  tobacco  for  paying  the 
clergy-tax,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  reduction  of  the  Min- 
ister's salary  was  a  premium  upon  giving  him  better  tobacco. 
Efforts  were  made  to  increase  the  number  of  the  parishes, 
and  thereby  to  decrease  still  further  each  incumbent's  stipend. 
Then  were  passed  the  laws  of  1771  already  mentioned. 

The  underlying  cause  of  this  discontent  was  the  strong  sen- 
timent of  the  people  that  the  existing  parish  system  was  an 
infringement  of  their  rights  as  freemen;  and  this  feeling, 
without  doubt,  helped  to  strengthen  that  opposition  to  the 
mother  country,  which  resulted  in  the  American  Revolution. 
The  parish  had  aided   the  cause  of  independence   in    two  par- 


*ln  the  'Annuls  of  Annapolis"  it  is  stated  tlmt  in  \Ci'.U)  Mnj<»r  Kdw. 
Dorsey  reported  that  there  was  in  lianck,  f'>r  building  theclmrrh  at  Annap- 
olis, 4-">8  pounds  sterling. 

f  In  1730  it  had  been  decreed  that  one-quarter  of  the  M  ini-t<-r's  salary 
should  be  paid  in  grain  or  other  commodities.  The  ]  rospi-rity  of  the 
colony,  however,  had  rendered  this  law  in-operative  in  reducing  the  viiluf 
of  the  livings. 


24  Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

ticulars.  It  had  preserved  for  its  adherents  the  memories  of 
their  old  English  liberties,  and  by  its  manifest  evils,  had 
taught  its  opponents  to  view  with  jealousy  any  attempts  of 
England  to  interfere  with  the  local  affairs  of  the  colonies. 
Having  accomplished  these  things,  it  had  done  its  best  work, 
and  was  no  longer  needed. 

A  fair  idea  of  the  state  of  the  parishes  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  great  struggle,  can  be  obtained  from  a  perusal  of  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  from  the  writings  of  a  clergyman  of  Mary- 
land:* "Our  churches  in  general  are  ordinary  and  mean 
buildings,  composed  of  wood  without  spires  or  towers  or  stee- 
ples or  bells,  and  placed  for  the  most  part  (like  those  of  our 
remotest  ancestors  in  Great  Britain)  no  longer  perhaps  in  the 
depths  of  forests,  yet  still  in  retired  and  solitary  spots  and 
contiguous  to  springs  or  wells.  ...  In  both  Maryland  and 
Virginia  there  are  not  six  organs;  the  psalmody  is  every- 
where ordinary  and  mean  and  in  not  a  few  places  there  is 
none  ...  at  present  most  of  our  parishes  have  two  churches 
in  which  duty  is  alternately  performed  ...  in  several  par- 
ishes there  are  three.  Between  the  list  of  taxables  as  set 
down  in  the  sheriff's  book,  and  what  the  incumbent  actually 
receives  it  is  well  known  there  is  a  wide  difference.  .  .  .  We 
have  but  fourty-four  clergy.  .  .  .  The  utmost  that  the  most 
able  and  careful  of  the  clergy  in  Maryland  can  expect  is  to 
live  decently  in  a  private  way,  and  to  educate  their  children 
in  such  a  manner  as  that  by  their  own  industry  and  a  small 
portion  they  may  be  able  to  live  above  contempt  when  we  are 
gone." 

The  lack  of  entries  in  many  record  books  during  the  next 
three  or  four  years,  serves  to  show  the  blank  which  then 
existed  in  parish  life.     During  the  Revolution  the  Church  in 

*  "  A  View  of  the  Causes  and  Consequences  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion,  &c."  By  Rev.  Jonathan  Boucher.  London,  1797,  pp.  232-234. 
Mr.  Boucher  was  a  loyalist  and  received  harsh  treatment  at  the  hands  of 
his  parishioners.  A  short  sketch  of  his  life  is  given  in  Neill's  "  Notes  on 
the  Va.  Col.  Clergy,"  p.  29. 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  25 

Maryland  lost  considerable  ground  for  various  reasons.  Manv 
of  the  clergy  considered  that  they  were  still  hound  hv  their 
oath  to  the  English  government.  These,  and  others  from 
choice,  adhered  to  the  royal  cause  and  endeavored  to  induce 
their  congregations  to  do  the  same.  Consequently  great 
numbers  left  the  Church,  and  attached  themselves  to  Metho- 
dism, which  was  just  beginning  to  thrive  in  America.  In 
the  "Declaration  of  Rights,"  adopted  in  the  Maryland  ('< in- 
vention of  1 77(3,  it  was  ordained  that  no  County  Court  should 
thereafter  levy  a  tax  upon  application  of  a  Vestry,  or  of  Church 
Wardens.  The  legislature  might,  however,  impose  a  general 
tax  for  the  support  of  tiie  Christian  religion,  but  each  person 
could  denote  lor  what  denomination  his  quota  should  be  ex- 
pended. The  property  of  the  Church  of  England  remained 
in  the  possession  of  the  parishes,  but  even  those  who  stood  bv 
the  Church  were  too  much  occupied  with  the  more  momentous 
questions  of  the  time  to  give  much  heed  to  parish  matters. 
The  loyal  clergy  vacated  their  livings,  and  the  churches  thus 
deprived  of  their  rectors  began  to  decay.  The  Ministers  who 
remained,  being  without  an  assured  salary,  had  to  make  great 
shifts  to  support  themselves. 

The  attention  of  the  Assembly  was  called  to  this  sad  state 
of  affairs,  and  it  passed  a  new  Vestry  Act.  In  a  "  (/aural 
meeting,''  the  legal  voters  of  a  parish,  who  had  paid  pari-h 
charges,  elected  seven  Vestrymen  "for  the  preservation  of  the 
church,  care  of  the  glebe,  and  for  the  happinc-s  and  welliirc 
of  the  state."'  Their  civic  duties  wen;  taken  away,  although 
the  Wardens  kept  the  peace  in  churches,  and  could  eject  from 
them  anv  disorderly  persons.*  The  names  of  many  of  the 
old  members  now  reappear  in  the  record  books,  but  the  titles 
of  "  ( 'olonel,"  "  Major,"  eVc,  have  been  added,  flic  members 
of  the  Vestry  now  chose  their  Minister,  and  paid  him  by  the 
subscriptions  of  the  parishioners.  Grain  was  the  principal 
commodity    used    in    payment   of  such   debt-.      Thi>    was   eol- 

*  Hanson.  177'',  Chap.  IX. 


26  Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland. 

lected  through  personal  application  by  the  Vestrymen.  The 
Minister  controlled  the  glebe  (which  was  vested  in  the  Vestry) 
during  his  incumbency.  When  any  improvements  were  made, 
some  parishioners  contributed  material,  others  their  services. 
Sometimes  the  glebe  was  rented,  in  which  case  the  lessee  agreed 
generally  to  improve  it. 

In  1798,*  another  Act  became  the  law  upon  which  is  based 
the  present  existing  Vestry  system  of  Maryland ;  for,  later 
laws  referring  to  the  incorporation  of  religious  bodies  have 
the  proviso  that  nothing  therein  contained  shall  affect  the 
election  of  Vestries  according  to  the  usages  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church.  Although  this  Act  is  easy  of  access,  it 
may  be  well  to  mention  the  most  important  features.  Eight 
Vestrymen  were  elected,  the  former  Vestrymen  being  the 
judges  of  election.  All  Vestrymen  and  Church  Wardens  took 
the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Government,  professed  belief  in  the 
Christian  religion,  and  subscribed  to  the  oath  of  office.  The 
first  Monday  in  February,  May,  August,  and  November  was 
the  legal  Vestry  day.  Four  members  constituted  a  quorum. 
The  Minister  was  chairman  and  collected  the  votes.  If  there 
was  a  tie  he  had  the  deciding  voice,  unless  he  was  personally 
interested  in  the. result.  The  Vestrymen  chose  the  Church 
Wardens,  and  "  called  "  their  rector.  The  Vestry  was  a  cor- 
porate body,  but  could  dispose  of  no  church  property  without 
the  consent  of  both  of  the  Wardens. 

At  present  Vestries  are  governed  by  the  provisions  of  their 
charters,  if  they  have  any,  which  conform  generally  to  the 
Constitution  and  Canons  of  the  Diocesan  Convention.  Par- 
ishes still  exist  as  geographical  divisions,  and  there  are  also 
"separate  congregations"  whose  Trustees  are  called  Vestry- 
men. For  example,  St.  Paul's  Parish  is  Baltimore  City  and 
a  part  of  Baltimore  County.  But  within  this  parish  are  more 
than  two  dozen  congregations.     The  power  of  constituting, 


*  "  A  Compilation  containing  the  Constitution  and  Canons  of  the  P.  E. 
Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Md.,  &c,"  pp.  73-104. 


Parish  Institutions  of  Maryland.  27 

dividing  and  uniting  parishes  is  vested  in  the  Convention  of 
the  Diocese.  Many  of  the  old  glebes  have  been  sold,  and  in 
some  parishes  the  proceeds  have  been  converted  into  stocks 
or  bonds.  Where  there  is  a  glebe,  the  Minister  sometimes 
farms  it,  for  the  country  clergy  are  not  the  best  rewarded 
individuals.  There  are  eight  Vestrymen,  four  of  whom  are 
voted  out  and  their  places  filled  at  congregational  meeting  on 
Easter  Monday  in  each  year.  Vestrymen  are  rceligible  and 
are  generally  continued  in  office.  Very  often  the  meeting  of 
the  congregation  consists  of  the  members  of  the  old  Veslrv, 
who  solemnly  reelect  themselves.  It  is  on  record  that  at  one 
meeting  in  Baltimore  the  only  persons  present  were  the  two 
Wardens,  who  appointed  each  other  chairman  and  secretary, 
respectively,  and  elected  the  Vestry.  The  Vestry  elects  two 
Church  Wardens  either  from  their  own  body  or  from  the  con- 
gregation. The  Wardens,  if  they  arc  not  also  Vestrymen, 
cannot  vote  in  Vestry  meeting,  but  can  take  part  in  discus- 
sions. In  city  churches,  one  of  the  Wardens  makes  prepara- 
tions for  the  celebration  of  the  communion,  but  in  the  countrv 
it  is  a  matter  of  convenience  as  to  which  of  the  officers  of 
the  church  shall  attend  to  such  matters.  The  Wardens  may 
assist  at  the  offertory.  They  notify  the  Bishop  of  the  election 
of  a  new  Minister,  and  may  also  certify  the  election  of  lav 
delegates  to  the  Convention,  but  the  Register  of  the  Vestry 
generally  does  this.  Although  the  powers  of  officers  of  the 
peace  were  taken  from  the  Wardens  in  1802,  nevertheless 
as  representatives  of  the  Vestry,  they  still  have  the  ancient 
right  of  keeping  order  in  church,  and  are  objects  ol  terror  to 
small  boys  or  other  disturbers  of  public  service.  The  \\  aniens 
are  also  the  custodians  of  the  church  property. 

The  parish  of  Maryland,  which  was  originated  here  for 
religious  purposes,  but  which,  as  an  institution  by  Knglish 
people,  naturally  possessed  some  of  the  historical  features  ot 
the  old  English  parish,  gradually  severed  its  connection  with 
civil  matters,  until  to-day  it  exists  tor  the  furtherance  ol' 
ecclesiastical  objects  alone. 


EXTRACTS 

K  K  0  M     T  I!  K 


PARISH  RECORDS  OF  MARYLAX 


Prince  George's  Parish. 

Whereas  at  the  Request  of  the  Inhabitants  of  tin-  Eastern,  Branch  and 
Hock  Creek,  The  Reverend  M*  John  Frazer  did  appoint  this  |»v<-f-ont  day 
being  the  18th  day  of  September  1719,  For  the  said  Inhabitants  to  meet 
in  order  to  make  Choice  of  a  proper  place  for  building  a  Chappel,  and 
Contributing  towards  building  the  same. 

And  forasmuch  as  very  few  of  the  Inhabitants  are  met  on  tin-  Occasion, 
those  therefore  present,  to  prevent  delays  have  thought  lilt  to  Subscribe 
their  Name-,  and  what  Sums  they  are  willing  to  give,  and  have  Nomi- 
nated the  place  they  think  most  proper,  Leaving  Room  in  said  Collum 
for  other  of  the  Inhabitants  to  Name  what  place  they  think  more  Conve- 
nient, that  so  a  proper  place  may  be  pitch 'd  upon  by  the  Majority. 
Benefactors  Names  |  £  \  a  |  Tob'-'  in  £s  |  Proper  place  for  build. 

December  the  :>'■  17-ti 

Then  mei  the  freeholders  of  Prince  Georges  Pari.-h  at  the  Parish 
Church  at  Rock  Creek,  As  is  directed  by  Act  of  Assembly  to  Choose 
Vestry  Men.  and  other  Parish  Officers,  And  accordingly  tiny  made  Choice 
of  the  following  Gentlemen  to  be  Vestry  Men,  (viz')  Mr  N'ath-  Wiekham 
.lun-M'Mohn  Powell,  M'  James  Holmeard,  M- John  Flint,  M- .Joseph 
Chew,  and  Mr  John  Pritchett.  And  for  Church  Wardens  Mr  ("abb 
Lutton,  and  MrW'"  Harbin;  and  they  Qualified  thcin-elv.-s  for  their 
Place.-,  by  taking  the  Several  Oaths  as  the  Act  of  AsM-mbly  direct-  for 
Such  Officers  to  take. 

After  the   Election   was  over,  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Vestry  met,  and 

made  Choice  of  Will'"  Jackson,  for  their  Register,  and  appoint.  .1  to  n i 

again  on  Frvdav  the  lu'-'  December  1  7 1-' ' ; . 


Those  I'xtriu-lH  from  Msirylauil  Parish  Ko.or.ls  have  In  .-n  piihli-l  h.    k  i ml 

Ci  >r>]»rat  ion  <•['  K''iil  i.iocii  in   Hnllini.uo,  an<l,  it   is  Impel,  «  n-i.-t   to 

hrini;  ahout   ;i  mure    neaoral  movement   towards  tin1  pti  ":  .1>>  ,i>  inn 

parish  records,  hill  also  of' many  other  ancient  ilocmii.iits,  w  he  li  ii  n                        '»  "ill 
.-mill  eriiiuhle  to  pieces. 


30  Extracts  from  the 

Fryday  December  the  16^  1726 
The  Gentlemen  of  the  Vestry  met  according  to  appointment  (all  present) 
and  agreed  to  allow  W'u  Jackson  Eight  hundred  pound  of  Tobacco  *$ 
Annum  for  being  Register,  and  likewise  ordered  that  a  Letter  Should  be 
forthwith  Sent  to  Mr.  John  Bradford  desiring  the  favour  of  him  to  meet 
them  at  the  Parish  Church,  on  the  3d  day  of  January  172f  about  the  land 
the  Parish  Church  Stands  on,  to  make  it  over. 

Tuesday  the  10th  January  172f* 
The  Gentlemen  of  the  Vestry  according  to  appointment  met  all  present. 
And  Invested  M*  George  Murdoch  as  Rector  of  this  Parish,  he  behaving 
himself  well  and  doing  his  duty,  duely,  and  truely,  as  an   Incumbent 
ought  to  do. 

His  Induction  from  his  Excellency  to  the 
Gentlemen  of  the  Vestry 
Maryland  ss- 

Charles  Calvert  Esq'  Governour  of 
Maryland,  and  Commander  in  Chief  &c. 
To  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Vestry  of  Prince 
Georges  Parish,  in  Prince  Georges  County 
Greeting. 
"Whereas  the  Reverend  Mr  George  Murdoch  an  Orthodox  Minister  of 
the  Church  of  England,  was  sent  and  Recommended  by  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  London  and  Diocesan  of  this  Province  to  officiate  as  such  in  Virginia 
or  Maryland,  I  do  therefore  Recommend  and  appoint  the  said  George 
Murdoch  to  be  Rector  of  your  Parish,  and  direct  you  to  Recieve  him  as 
Incumbent  thereof,  and  will  you  to  be  aiding  and  assisting  to  him,  in  all 
things  becoming,  to  the  end  he  may  Recieve  the  full  benefits  and  Perqui- 
sites of  his  Office  appertaining,  together  with  the  fourty  "$  Poll  arising 
within  the  Parish  aforesaid. 

Given  at  the  City  of  Annapolis  this  29th  Day  of  December  in  the  thir- 
teenth Year  of  the  Dominion  of  the  Right  Hon1  Charles  Lord  Baron  of 
Baltemore,  Absolute  Lord  Proprietor  of  the  Province  of  Maryland,  and 
Avalon  &c.  Annoque  Domini  1726.  And  in  the  thirteenth  Year  of  his 
Majesties  Reigne 

Cha  Calvert. 


♦Until  1752,  the  25th  of  March  was  observed  in  England  as  the  beginning  of  the  year. 
Most  European  nations  had  already  adopted  the  reform  calendar  of  Gregory  XIII.  (1572). 
The  English,  always  slow  to  accept  outside  innovations,  had  retained  the  Old  Style, 
but,  for  convenience  in  foreign  trade,  were  accustomed  to  use  both  the  Old  and  the  New 
Styles  between  January  1st  and  March  25th.  So  January,  172|,  means  that  it  was  in  the 
year  1726,  Old  Style,  but  in  1727,  New  Style.  For  further  information  in  regard  to  the 
change  see  the  article  "Calendar"  Ency.  Brit,,  Hening's  Statutes, "Vol.  I,  p.  393,  Ac,  Mag. 
Amer.  Hist.,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  223,  also  a  pamphlet  entitled  "What  New  Doctrine  is  This?" 
and  the  Providence  "Monthly  Reference  List"  for  October,  1882. 


Parish  Records  of  Maryland.  31 

The  following  is  a  Copy  of  M^  George  Bealls 
Obligation  for  his  performance  of  the  building  the 
Vestry  House. 
Know  nil  Men  by  these  p'sents,  that  I  George  Beall  of  Prime  Georges 
County  in  tho  Province  of  Maryland  have  agreed  with  the;  Gentlemen  of 
the  Vestry  of  Prince  Georges  Parish,  to  build  a  Vestry  House  It;  Foot 
long,  12  Foot  wide  overjetted,  an  Inside  Chimney,  the  House  t<>  he  y  Foot 
pitch'd  plank'd  above  and  below,  a  plank  dour  to  the  House,  with  Lock 
and  key,  and  Iron  hinges,  the  boards  to  beall  drawn  a  Small  plank  Table, 
the  House  to  be  fram'd,  and  to  find  All  Necessaries  whatsoever,  and  to 
have  it  compleatcd  workman  like  by  Easter  Sunday  it  being  tie-  2'1  day  of 
April  next  ensuing  the  Date  hereof,  and  to  have  for  doing  the  Same,  Two 
Thousand  five  hundred  pound  of  Tobacco,  if  not  Compleatcd  and  finished 
according  to  Agreement,  to  forfeit  Five  Thousand  pound  of  Tobacco; 
dust  Causes  to  the  Contrary  Excepted,  As  Witness  my  hand  this  10l '  day 
of  Janry  1725 

Signed  before  the  Vestry  Geo.  Beall 

Witness 
W.  Jackson  Regr 

April  the  •".''  1727.  Being  Easter  Monday  the  freeholders  of  the  Parish 
met.  According  as  the  Act  of  Assembly  directs 'to  put  out  two  of  the 
Gentlemen  of  the  Vestry,  and  to  Choose  two  others  in  their  Booms  and 
likewise  two  Church  Wardens,  They  thought  litt  to  put  of  the  Ve>try 
Ml  Nath1  Whickham  Junr  and  M?  John  Powell,  and  Elected  \lrWiHm 
Harbin  and  >['  Thomas  Lucas  in  their  Kooms,  and  likewise  Chose  M*  John 
Harding,  and  M.'  Grove  Thomlinson  Church  Wardens  for  the  En.-uing 
year,  in  the  Kootn  of  M  •  Will"'  Harbin,  and  M'  Caleb  Lutton.  And  tin  y 
Qualified  themselves  for  their  places  by  taking  the  Several  Oaths  aa  is 
Directed  by  Act  of  Assembly  for  Such  Officers  to  take. 

At  the  same  time  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Ve.-try  C"ii->nted  that  Mr 
M  urdoch  should  preach  to  the  upper  inhabitants  of  the  Parish,  every  third 
Sunday,  in  some  Convenient  place,  they  shall  appoint. 

Sunday  tho  28"'  May  1727.  After  Divine  Service  the  C.-ntletm-n  i 
Vestry  met  At>out  Sending  for  Books  for  the  I'se  of  the  Church;  M  r 
dam"  Hoi moard  offered  to  Send  for  them  if  the  K.-t  of  the  (o-ntleiuen 
thought  lit,  ami  they  accordingly  accepted  his  oiler,  ami 
send  for  the  following  Books,  (viz1)  One  Large  folio  Church  Bilde,  Two 
Large  folio  Common  Prayer  Books,  and  he  Should  be  paid  in  Tobaou  al 
1    ~f'  pound. 

Tuesday  the  15-"  August  1V_'7. 
The  Gentlemen  of  Ve.-try  according  to  nppointtm  nl    n 
to  treat  with   workman   about    Erecting   Pew.-  in   ti.e  (  huuh,  and  they 


32  Extracts  from  the 

Agreed  with  M*  Mingeldo  Pgge  to  Erect  fourteen  Pews,  and  to  alter  the 
Desk,  and  to  make  it  less,  and  to  make  a  place  for  the  Clark  to  Sit  in  ...  . 
and  to  pay  him  Five  Thousand  Pounds  of  Tobacco  for  Doing  the  Said 
work. 

And  likewise  agreed  to  pay  M' George  Beall  Three  hundred  pounds 
of  Tobacco,  for  puting  up  two  new  Girders  in  the  Church. 

And  likewise  to  pay  Mr  Nehemiah  Ogden  Three  hundred  Pounds  of 
Tobacco  for  Iron  work  for  the  said  Girders. 

And  likewise  to  pay  Mrf  Mary  Ann  Powell  Two  hundred  and  fifty 
Pounds  of  Tobacco,  for  a  Dyaper  Cloth,  and  two  Napkins,  for  the  Com- 
munion Table. 

And  likewise  to  pay  William  Jackson  One  hundred,  Sixty  Eight  Pounds 
of  Tobacco,  for  a  book  to  Kecord,  the  Several  proceedings  of  the  Vestry. 

Tuesday  the  21**  November  1727. 

At  the  same  time  they  agreed  to  pay  MT  Grove  Thomlinson  Church 
"Warden  Two  Hundred  and  Sixteen  Pounds  of  Tobacco  for  Wine  for  the 
Sacrament,  due  from  Easter  to  this  time. 

And  likewise  to  pay  Owen  Read  Three  Hundred  Pounds  of  Tobacco, 
for  Digging  a  Well,  and  making  a  back  in  the  Vestry  House. 

And  likewise  The  Keverend  M'  George  Murdoch  agreed  to  pay  the  Gen- 
tlemen of  the  Vestry,  for  the  Use  of  the  Parish,  Two  Thousand  Pounds 
of  Tobacco  upon  Condition  that  he  might  Recieve  the  fourty  ^  Poll,  for 
the  whole  Year,  when  but  Eleven  Months  his  due,  which  amounts  to  the 
said  Sume  ^  Month,  which  they  agreed  too. 

May  the  10  1729     • 

The  Gentlemen  of  the  Vestry,  and  the  Church  Wardens  of  the  Parish 
met,  pursuant  to  an  Act  of  Assembly,  to  Nominate,  and  appoint  Counters 
to  Count  Tobacco  Hills  &c*  in  the  Several  Hundreds  in  this  Parish 

And  accordingly  they  N  ominated,  and  appointed,  M*  Thomas  Fletchall, 
and  M'  Alexander  Magruder  to  be  Counters  for  Potomack  and  Minocezsy 
Hundreds. 

And  Likewise  M*  James  Beall,  and  M*  Nicholas  Baker  for  the  Eastern 
Branch  Hundred 

And  M*  Thomas  Lucas,  and  M'  Thomas Lamar,forEock  Creek  Hundred 

At  the  same  time  Orderd  that  William  John  Jackson  be  paid  Eight 
Hundred  pounds  of  Tob°  for  a  Years  Salary  for  being  Register,  and  finding 
paper  &c*  for  the  use  of  the  Parish. 

And  Likewise  Order'd  that  Grove  Thomlinson  Church  Warden  be  paid 
One  Hundred,  and  fourty  pounds  of  Tobacco  for  Wine  for  the  Sacrament, 
&  his  Extraordinary  Trouble  in  fetching  it. 

And  Order'd  that  no  Churchwarden  hereafter  be  paid  anything  for 
their  Trouble  &c- 


Parish  Records  of  Maryland.  33 

June  29th  17:!  1 
Order'd  that  the  threes  Hogsheads  of  Tohacco  Rec'ced  of  the  Sheriff  on 
the  Parish  accompt  Bo  Shipt  to  M*  Isaac  Milner  Merchant  in  London  on 
the  Parish   Risque  and   that  the  following  Goods  be  Sent  for,   (for  the 
Produce  of  the  Said  Tohacco)  for  the  Use  of  the  Parish  Church. 
Five  Casements  three  inches  long,  and  Seven  Inches  Wide 
Five  lights  Thirty  Inches  Long  and  Seventeen  Inches  Wide 
Ten  lights  Twenty  one  Inches  long  and  Seventeen   Inches  Wide 
Two  lights  Twenty  Inches  long  and  Eleven  Inches  Wide. 
And  a  Surplice. 

Order'd  that  Ralph  Lannum  he  Paid  Fifty  pound  of  Tobacco  for  Rolling 
one  of  the  Said  Hogsheads. 

Febry  the  7  173§ 

....  Order'd  that  Summons  be  Issued  for  Nehemiah  and  W™ 

to  appear  before  the  said  Vestry  on  Easter  .Monday.  .  .  . 


Easter  Munday  March  ye  2Gth  17:;:! 

.  .  .  Also  Nehemiah  and  Mary not  Appearing  According 

to  Appointment  to  Clear  themselves  of  the  Suspition  of  Fornication  were 
Order'd  to  Seperate  &c. 

March  ye  .'{1th  173:5 
Then   Benj"  Murdoch  Clark  of  the  Vestry  Pursuent  to  the  Abovesaid 

Orders  Concerning  Nehemiah  &  Mary &  William  

&  Grace did  Serve  them  «fcc. 

On  Whitsun  Munday  May  y"  14th  17:13 
Also  Neh.  Appear'd  &  Said  he  was  Maried  to  the  Woman  that 

he  is  Accus'd  of  Living  in  Fornication  with  but  could  Shew  no  Certificate 
nor  any  other  Proof  hut  Said  Since  the  Vestry  was  not  Satisfi'd  he  was 
willing  to  he  publish'd  Ami  Mari'd  Over  Again  which  the  Vestry  thought 
litt  to  Consider  Upon  it  that  providing  that  the  Woman  would  (Joe  in  A 
Short  Time  and  swear  before  a  Magistrate  that  She  knows  nothing  of  her 
Husband  being  alive.  It  should  be  done  otherwise  to  proceed  according 
to  Law. 

A  Coppy  of  Mary  Oath. 

Prince  Georges  County  Aug'   s1 '  17-::! 

Then  came  Mary  before  me  one  of  his  Lordships  .Justices  of  (he 

County  Court  A;  made  Oath  on  the  Holy  Evangelists  of  Almighty  God 
that  She  had  not  Seen  or  heard  from  her  Husband  William  —  Hither 

by  Letter  or  l'roxsey  for  this  Eight  or  Nine  Year-  bygone  A:  doth  not    at 

this  Time    Believe  he  the  Said  William    is  Alive  Swornr   before 

me  Date  Above  Written 

Jos:   Chew 

ft 


34  Extracts  from  the 

On  Munday  November  the  5th 

Then  it  was  Agreed  that  Nehemiah &  Mary should  bo 

Presented  the  Court  Ensuing  if  he  be  not  Married  before  that  Time. 

Easter  Monday  April  ye  7th  1735. 
Also  Agreed  with  Mr  John  Bell  Churchwarding  To  Alow  him  foure 
hundred  &  fifty  lb  of  Tobacco  for  finding  Bread  &  Wine  for  the  Sacra- 
ment &  taking  Care  of  the  Linning  and  Vessels  for  the  year  Ensuing. 

May  ye  6th 
1735 
Then  Agreed  with  Bingle  Page  and  Benjamin  Perry  to  Build  a  Gallery 
fitting  it  with  Seats  as  Maney  as  is  convenant  and  to  be  done  workman 
like  likewise  to  put  Eight  good  Substantial  new  Blocks  of  Locas  or  Chest- 
nut well  Season'd  to  the  Said  Church  and  also  to  put  Six  good  blocks  to 
the  Vestrey  house  in  the  roome  of  those  that  are  alredey  there  qualefied 
as  the  other  before  mentiond  and  to  have  for  the  Same  Six  Thousand 
pounds  of  Tobacco  (makeing  good  the  Wether  hording  of  the  Church  and 
the  West  dore)  to  have  it  Compleatly  finished  by  the  twenty  fifth  of  De- 
cember Next  on  the  penalty  of  N«ie  Thousand  pounds  of  Tobacco. 

Octr  7e  14th 
1735. 
Then  it  was  agreed  with  the  Kev .  George  Murdock  that  he  Should  pay 
for  two  years  Quit-Rent  for  the  Glebe-land  (Viz)  Eight  Shilings  Sterling 
to  Mr  William  Diggs  and  be  Deducted  out  of  what  he  owes  to  the  Parish. 

Nov1  7e  5th 
1735 
Likewise  that  Notis  Should  be  given  to  the  freeholders  &c  And  Notes 
Set  up  that  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  Decr  the  Vestrey  to  meete  to  agree 
about  the  Sale  of  the  Pewes. 

Sept  7e  23 

1740 

At  the  Same  time  the  Revd-  George  Murdock  Brought  In 

the  following  Account  (Viz)    ' 

<£  s 

To  10|  Ells  of  Holland  for  a  Surplice  \ 

at  14  Shilings  ^  Ell  J 

To  Making  1     —     10    —    0 

To   Thomas   Willson    for   survaying  1      .. 

the  Chap-  Land  / 

To  George  Murdock  for  Commone  Truble   1     —      0    —     0 

10    —     19    —    0 


Parish  Records  of  Maryland.  .'35 

which  was  agreed  that  lie  Should  have  an  order  on  William  Murdock 
Late  Shriefi"  and  Accordingly  had  one  for  the  Sd  Sum  (Viz  10  jiound 
Nineteen  Shilings 

Nov'y'  18th 
17  jo 

.  .  .  and  at  the  Same  time  ^S\T-  Francis  Finn  brought  a  Letter  from  Mr 
John  1'rieliard  with  this  Subscription 

For  the  Lay  Gentlemen  of  y*  Vestrey  of  Prince  Georges  Parish. 
Which  was  orderd  to  be  Recorded  &  is  as  followeth 
Gentlemen 

I  Reced  a  Letter  from  John  Flint  who  stiles  himself  Clerk  of  ye  Vestrey 
and  by  Your  Order  requires  me  to  Attend  ye  Vestry  to  Morrow  to  clear 
Myself  of  a  supition  of  my  living  in  Adultery  I  look  upon  my  Answer 
in  writing  to  he  as  Sufficient  and  as  clear  as.  if  I  was  before  You.  And 
therefore  deny  tin;  charge,  If  I  could  Possibly  leave  my  sickly  Negro 
family  and  with  convenience  be  absent  from  my  buisness  In  Attending 
my  Store  I  would  however  wait  Upon  you  Gentlemen  of  the  Laity. 

But  whilst  your  Hector  is  there;  1  hope  to  be  Excus'd  for  that  1  look 
upon  the  Censure  to  proceed  from  his  malice  and  Vexatious  temper,  in 
the  intervales  of  his  want  of  y°  right  use  of  bis  sences  the  deprivation  of 
which  at  some  times  he  is  Deem'd  to  be  under  in  the  opinion  of  Severall 
of  his  Brother  Clergymen  and  Severall  Gentlemen  in  this  A:  the  Neigh- 
bouring County  Therefore  I  do  not  think  proper  to  Attend  Your  Sutnons 
whilst  he  is  present. 

1  am  with  due  Kespect  Your  most 
hum  Serv- 
Nov'y0  17  1740  Jn"  Prichard 

And  the  Vestrey  thought  fit  to  Refer  their  opinion  whilst  the  third 
tusday  in  December. 

June  ye  7 

174:5 

Likewise  agreed  to  lend  Samuel  magroiider  yc  :)'  Twenty  live  pound  at 
4  ~r'  Cent  Y'  A  iiimm. 

And  Ninnian   Maugrouder  Six  pound  at  4  "(•'  Cent 

And  John   Flint  Six  pound  at  4  "(-'  cent  ~r'  Annum 

And  John  Claggett  thirty  two  pound  at  4  "(-'  r''"1 

And  all  oil'  them  to  give  Security  for  the  payment  of  the  Same  to  the 
Said  Vestrey  with  the  Intrest  due  thereon  according  to  their  >c\erall 
Sum*  and  time. 

Oetol/y"    l"' 

17-1- 
Then  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Vestrey  met   Present  .... 


36  Extracts  from  the 

And  did  Nominate  and  Recommend  for  Inspectors  At  Ir  George 
Gordon8  warehouse  at  the  mouth  of  Kock  Creek  The  following  Gen'  men 
(Viz) 

Cap'  Alexander  Maugrouder 
Mess™  Josiah  Beall 
John  Clagget 

Alexander  Beall  Son  of  Willm  Beall 
Likewise  for  Bladenshurg 
ICeM™  Samuel  Beall  Jun* 
N  icholas  Baker. 
Mar  y8 
27  1749 

Then  came  the  folowing  Certifiecation 

Prince  Georges  County  Decern  ye  5th  1748 
Mary  Land  ss' 

I  Hereby  Certifie  that  this  day  Came  before  me  The  Subscriber  one  of 
his  Lordships  Justices  for  the  County  aforesaid  Alex'  Beall  and  Qualified 
himself  by  takeing  the  severall  oathes  to  the  Goverment  as  Alsoe  the  oath 
of  Inspector  and  Declard  the  test  &  Subscrib'd  the  same  and  the  oath  of 
Abjuration 

Sworne  before  Jn°  Cooke 
To  the  Vestrymen  &  Church        "I 
"Wardens  of  Prince  Georges  Parish  J 

May  ye  12 

1751 

And  at  the  Same  time  Orderd  that  I  Should  Acquaint  his  Excellence 
with  the  Death  of  Alex'  Maugrouder  one  of  the  Inspectors  for  Rock-Creek 
Inspecting  house  and  who  was  the  Next  Nominated  for  Inspectors 

Likewise  to  set  up  notes  to  Acquaint  all  the  freeholders  to  meet  the 
Vestrey  the  first  Tusday  in  June  for  to  Chuse  one  for  a  Vestrey  man  in 
the  Rome  of  Alex'  Maugrouder  being  Dead,  and  for  any  Carpinters  that 
will  undertake  the  Raileing  of  the  Chappel  yard  and  the  Chancel  to  meet 
at  the  Same  time  And  place. 

July  ye  20 
1756 

Then  the  Gentmen  of  the  Vestrey  met  pressent 

And  after  taking  the  Oath  Appointed  for  that  Purpose  did  Nominate 
the  Batchelors  in  the  Said  Parish  aged  Twenty  five  years  and  upwards 
with  the  place  of  abode  and  Value  of  there  Estate 

April  ye  18th 
1757 
Memorandum  that  John  Tyson  Bought  a  Botle  Screw  of  Mr  Rob'  Mun- 
dell  on  ye  Parish  ace'  price  on  Shiling. 


Pariah  Records  of  Maryland.  87 

Tusdaj  December  4t!'  1759 
....  at  Which  time  the  Keverend  Mr  Clement  Brooke  Informed  the 
Vestery  that  the  Reverend  Mr  George  M unlock  had  Imployed  him  the 
Said  Brooke  as  his  Currate  to  Olliciate  in  his  the  Said  M  unlock-  Parrish. 
The  Vestery  not  being  fully  Satisfied  Concearning  the  Matter  In  Dispute 
between  the  Keverend  Mr  Thomas  Johnson  and  the  Reven  Mr  Clement 
Brooke  Thought  Proper  to  Adjorn  to  the  Keverend  Mr  George  Murdocks 
house;  on  Saterday  the  Eight  Instant  In  Order  to  Take  Moore  fuller  In- 
structions from  him  the  Said  Murdock  lie  being  very  Ancient  and  Incu- 
pible  of  Attending  the  Vestery. 

June  '27th  1768  Att  Kereek  Chaple 

....  att  the  same  Time  the  Vestry  agrees  that  Mes>r. James  Burm-*  and 
Edward  Villers  Harbin  do  meet  at  Geo.  Town  Un  the  25'  day  of  duly  in 
Order  to  Exspose  the  Parish  Tobacco  to  Publiok  Sale  and  that  Simon 
Nicholls  Advertise  the  Same. 

Tusday  March  24  1707 
Order  that  Simon  Nicholls  Purchas  at  the  Cost  of  the   Parish  One  of 
the  Kev    Mr  Bacons  Body  of  Law  for  the  use  of  Said  Purish. 


St.  John's  Parish,  Baltimore  County.* 

[July  30,  1730.] 

Then  did  the  Keverend  M.  Bourdillon  infirm  this  Vestry  that  it  was 
his  Excellency  the  Govenors  pleasure  to  Call  him  to  Affiliate  in  Another 
parrish  ami  that  he  did  resign  Up  to  his  Excellency  this  parrish.  .   .  . 

[July  8,  1740] 

M*  Kichard  Caswell  being  Elected  a  Vestry  man  last  Kaster  Munday 
for  this  Parrish  hut  he  being  Corroner  is  not  ohlidged  to  Serve  in  said 
Office  Therefore  it  is  now  ordered  that  the  Clerk  putt  up  notes  for  the 
Parritioners  of  said  Parrish  to  nieett  in  the  Town  of  ,Io]>pa  on  the  tlrst 
Tuesday  in  August  Ensuing  in  order  to  Chuse  a  Church  Warden. 

[May,  1742  1 

Ordered  notes  be  put  up  to  employ  any  person  that  will  undertake  t" 
make  and  bring  To  Joppa  Twelue  Thousand  bricks  j 


In  the  extracts  from  the  l>ooks  (if  St.  John's  and   All  Saint-'   l\iri-h.«,  th--  dates  in 
brackels  are  merely  fur  the  sake  of  reference  and  arc  not  :i  part  of  l  lie  •  •!  L-in.iI  n  ■<  op  I. 

fMnny  of  the  old  churches  in  Maryland  were  Imill  of  brick-  liroiirfht.il   i-  >ai<l 
England.    But  all  bricks  used  iu  the  I'rovince  were  not  impoi -ted,  a-  ihc  bdl.-wiiirf  fads 


38  Extracts  from  the 

[June,  1742.] 

M*  William  Dallam  agreed  with  the  vestry  to  deliver  Twelve  thousand 
bricks  at  Joppa  Town  in  the  parrish  Church  yard  &  to  be  viewed  by  Two 
of  the  Vestrymen  who  shall  be  At  that  time  quallitied  According  to  Law 
&  if  s-  Bricks  be  Approved  of  by  the  Two  Vestrymen  as  Afors*?  to  be  good 
&  Sufficient  then  the  Vestrymen  do  agree  to  pay  the  said  M*  Dallam  thirty 
Shillings  Currant  money  "ty  thousand. 

[Oct.  4,  1743.] 

The  Vestry  agrees  that  Superscription  should  be  offered  to  the  Inhabi- 
tants of  this  Parrish  in  order  to  Raise  as  much  Money  as  will  Build  an 
Addition  to  the  North-side  of  the  church. 

[Apr.  3,  1744.] 

Ordered  that  Summons  Issue  for  Jacob  Jackson  and  bis  present  wife 
who  was  Neace  to  his  Deceased  wife  to  show  cause  if  any  why  they  shall 
not  be  prosecuted  According  to  Law,  for  Marrying  contrary  to  the  Table 
of  Mariage. 

[May  1,  1744.] 

Jacob  Jackson  and  his  wife  appearing  According  to  a  summons  ISsued 
from  the  last  Vestry  returnable  here  now,  and  haveing  no  Legall  Defence 
to  make  and  it  fully  appearing  that  they  have  Married  contrary  to  the 
Table  of  Marrage  it's  ordered  that  there  be  an  Information  made  thereof 
to  the  Next  county  Court  to  be  held  for  Baltimore. 

John  Leatherbury  agrees  to  do  the  Brick  work  of  a  Vestry  house  for 
which  he  is  to  have  Thirteen  shillings  ^3  Thousand  for  Laying  the  Brick 
and  to  find  himself  Diet  and  Lodging  he  is  to  Begin  the  said  work  by  the 
Twentieth  of  June  &  have  it  finished  with  all  expedition 

[May  5,  1747.] 

The  vestry  have  agreed  with  M*  Walter  Tolley  to  make  Twenty  thou- 
sand bricks  to  Be  merchantable  and  delivered  in  the  church  yard  at  or 
upon  the  Twentieth  Day  of  July  next  for  which  he  is  to  be  paid  thirty 
Shillings  currant  money  ^  Thousand. 

[June  2,  1747.] 

The  vestry  here  present  have  agreed  with  James  Sage  to  lay  about 
twenty  thousand  bricks  in  Two  porches  by  way  of  buttments  to  the  church 
for  which  they  are  to  Allow  him  at  the  Rate  of  Ten  Shillings  ^  Thousand 
the  vestry  finding  him  Accommodations  and  Attendance  the  Work  to 

clearly  prove.  As  early  as  1694,  a  contract  was  undertaken  by  a  resident  of  Kent  Island 
to  make  a  certain  number  of  bricks  for  building  a  church.  Of  course  these  bricks  were  in 
quality  inferior  to  the  imported  ones,  but  the  people  were  not  so  ignorant  of  the  resources 
beneath  their  feet  as  some  suppose.  However,  bricks  were  valuable  and  the  total  disap- 
pearance of  certain  old  tpwns  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that,  when  all  the  townsfolk 
sought  a  more  favorable  site,  they  carried  the  bricks  of  their  houses  with  them. 


Parish  Records  of  Maryland.  3ii 

begin  so  soon  as  the  bricks  Shall  be  burned  and  ready  the  .-aid  .la...'  -  to 
be  paid  fur  .-aid  Work  three,  months  after  finished. 

[August,  1747.] 

Mr  Jolin  Day  son  of  Edw:  Appears  &  declares  ho  keeps  a  puhlick  house 
is  therefore  Exempt  from  the  office  of  a  vestryman  and  is  from  tlii.-  day 
by  the  vestry  here  Present  discharged  from  said  office. 

[April  II,  1748.] 

Mr:  Thomas  (Sittings  is  by  the  majority  of  ye  parrishioners  here  present 
chosen  As  a  vestryman  to  Serve  in  said  Office  three  year's  from  tlii-  date 
According  To  Act  of  Assembly. 

[duly.  1748.] 

Ordr':1  that  the  clerk  put  up  notes  to  Advertise  that  the  ground  in  tie- 
new  Addition  to  the  church  Whereon  may  he  built  Ten  pews  7  feet  deep 
«te  5  feet  wide  is  to  be  sold  at  said  parrisb  church  on  the  lir-t  tue.-dav  in 
August  next  at  three  clock  in  the  Afternoon  by  Way  of  puhlick  vandue 
to  the  highest  bidder  or  bidders  for  curr-   or  Sterling  money. 

[April  3,  1750.] 

Ordered  that  puhlick  notice  lie  given  that  no  person  presume  to  hr.-ak 
any  of  the  Church  ground  on  any  pretents  whatever  before  Applying  to 
the  Sexton. 

[dune  I,  1751.] 

Robert  Price  lias  an  Order  on  M*  Thomas  Shoredine  high  Sherrilf  of 
Baltimore  county  for  the  (Quantity  of  live  hundred  pound-  of  Tub"  being 
for  his  Acting  as  Sexton  for  this  parish  One  Year. 

[Aug.  4.  1752  ] 

Then  was  Five  thousand  seven  hundred  &  ninety  Four  pound-  of  Tub? 
charged  to  Mess' Tho*  Sligh  Walter  Tolley  and  John  Paca  .Inn-  The.\ 
being  the  surities  of  \\r  Thomas  Sheredine  in  relation  To  his  due  perfor- 
mance in  hi-  Sherritls  Office. 

'[Sept.  I,  1752.] 

Tile  vestry  have  agr i  that  no  seat<  in  the  Addition  -hall   ho    \ 

ated  hut  all  held  in   common    for  This    reason    beeau-e   their  bargain  with   . 
M'    Walter   Tolley   relating    thereto    has   not    been   complyid    in    l>\    him 
therefore  its  agreed  what  was  disbursted  by  said  Tolley  mi  Account  of  the 
said  work  Shall  be  refuned  to  him  with  Interest   by  the  -M;d  Ve-try. 

Jolin  (Jiles  Appeared  According   to   his  summon-   from    the  V. 
marrying  Ilannah'Scott  sister  to   His  late  wile    Deceased,  aid    heme.  Ad- 
Hum i shed  to  put  In t  away  ha-  refused  to  do  it  therefore  the  V i  - 
Orders  the  Clk.  to  make  Presentment  to  the  gran  1  .1  in   n    a  -  -l    the 
(tiles  A;  said  Hannah  Scott,  a-  having  Offended  again-l  the    \    '  ■  '   A 
hly  in  that  ea-e  made  and  provided. 


40  Extracts  from  the 

[March  6,  1753.] 

A  Dispute  ariseing  about  the  boundery  between  Saint  Pauls  and  Saint 
Johns  parrish,  The  Vestry  have  Taken  the  same  into  consideration  and 
have  Appointed  Mess*  "Walter  Tolley  and  Rich*?  Wilmott  to  meet  Two 
parrishoners  of  Saint  Thomas's  Parrish  to  Enquire  Into  the  said  bound- 
dery  and  to  report  the  state  of  the  case  on  or  before  the  first  Tuesday  in 
June  Next  to  the  said  Vestry  of  Saint  Johns,  parrish. 

[Aug.,  1753.] 

Then  the  vestry  agreed  with  M'  Roger  Boyce  to  cause  to  be  made  Ten 
or  Twelve  Benches  Ten  Or  twelve  feet  lenth  One  and  a  quarter  Inch  thick 
Fourteen  or  fifteen  Inches  broad  of  white  Oak  or  popler,  the  said  benches 
to  be  placed  at  Nicho8-  Hutchens  and  to  be  by  him  Kept  From  the  weather 
for  which  the  vestry  have  agreed  to  Allow  the  said  Hutchens  One  hundred 
Pounds  of  Tob°  for  Every  time  Church  is  There  Kept,  .... 

[May  2,  1758.] 

The  vestry  having  been  informed  that  Joseph  Crook  Vestryman  of  this 
Parish  Aiding  Abeted  in  a  Certain  Riot  commited  in  the  Town  of  Joppa 
Easter  Monday  last  &  was  In  church  Neither  Easterda.y  nor  nionday. 
Therefore  the  Vestry  are  of  Opinion  that  the  Said  Jos.  Crook  Be  no  longer 
a  member  of  the  said  Vestry  and  hereby  Impower  the  Rector  to  Call  upon 
him  &  give  Notice  hereof  to  the  Parishioners  to  Ghuse  a  New  member 
In  his  Room, —  * 

[Oct.  2,  1759.] 

"Whereas,  the  Reverend  M'  Deans  Complained  to  the  Vestry  that  Peter 
Carroll  and  Rob'  Price  Tenants  on  the  Glebeland  have  committed  great 
wast  on  the  said  lands  And  have  Also  Subsett  the  said  lands,  And  whereas, 
the  said  Carroll  and  Price  &  The  Reverend  M*  Deans,  have  Left  to  the 
Vestry  for  Remediing  the  same  And  they  having  Viewed  the  said  ldnds — 
Therefore  are  of  Opion  that  All  the  former  Leasses  shall  be  Revoked  and 
New  ones,  Granted  in  their  Stead  Upon  the  Terms  of  the  former  Leases, 
Subsetting  and  was  Being  Especially  Barred. 

It  is  also  the  Opinion  of  the  Vestry  That  one  Vestryman  &  the  Two 
"Wardens  Shall  Yearly  Examine  weather  any  further  Wast  or  Subsetting 
shall  Be  Done  on  the  Glebe  lands. 

[Sept.  2,  1766.] 

Jn°  Roberts  had  an  Order  from  the  vestry  on  Rob'  Adair  Esq'  Sherr. 
for  five  Pounds  One  shilling  and  tenpence  half  penny  Curr°y  Being  for 

*Easter  occurred  this  year  on  the  26th  of  March.  In  the  absence  of  any  other  record 
of  the  "riot,"  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  suggest  that  it  was  probably  the  accompaniment  of 
the  Vestry  election.  At  that  time  there  were  no  "primaries,"  and  consequently  riotous 
spirits  had  to  find  vent  in  parish  elections.  As  the  voting  was  viva  voce,  it  was  easy  to 
detect  one's  opponent. 


Parish  Records  of  Maryland,  41 

some  wood  for  the  Parish  use  unci  his  Acting  as  Clk  of  the  vestrv  one 
Year  Ending  July  the  Fourth. 

[Sept.  6,  1768-1 

Ordered  Jn"  Beale  Howard  Be  paid  what  Cost  he  is  at  on  Acct.  of  An 
Attachment  Laid  in  his  hands  as  a  vestryman  by  Rich'!  Johns,  if  not 
Recovered  of  said  R-  Johns. 

[Aug.,  177:..] 

Ordered  that  the  Register  procure  from  the  Assessors  of  the  several 
Hundreds  in  this  Parish  a  List  of  the  Parrishioners  Names.  That  for  the 
future  the  Vestry  meet  at  the  Vestry  House  to  do  Busini  --. 

[Feb.,  1780.] 

Mr  Worsley  Requests  the  Favour  of  the  Vestry  to  Collect  the  last  years 
Sallary  due  1'  March  &  to  take  such  Methods  as  they  think  proper  fur 
this  year. 

M'  Rumsey  Agreed  to  take  his  Hundred.  Mr  Cowan  Agreed  to  Collect 
all  near  him,  Mr  Jn';  Beale  Howard  to  Collect  all  he  could.  Mr  T.  G  How- 
ard D°.     M*  Tolley  being  disordered  in  his  feet  could  not  go  about. 

Mr  Worsley  proposes  that  the  Gentlemen  who  are  so  kind  t<>  take  this 
trouble  will  at  the  same  time  make  Memorandums  how  &  what  each  Sub- 
scriber will  pay  for  this  Year  in  Cash  or  produce 

The  Vestry  Agreed  with  M'  Worsley  to  Continue  Minister,  who  in- 
formed them  he  had  let  the  Glebe  for  this  Year. 

N.  B.  The  following  Memorandum  was  made  upon  Paper  in  May  last 
&  lest  it  sho-  be  lost  is  now  transcribed  into  the  Vestry  Book 

A  Letter  from  Sc-  James's  Parish  was  delivered  by  two  Vestrymen  of 
the  s.  Parish,  to  B.  Rumsey  &  J.  B.  Howard  Esq,  &  afterwards  shewn  t  > 
the  rest  of  tin;  Vestry,  who  thinking  it  a  Matter  which  concerned  the 
whole  Congregation,  as  much  as  themselves,  desired  M  r  Wor.-ley  to  nii<r* 
it  in  the  Church  &  take  the  Sentiments  of  the  whole  Parish,  that  no 
Umbrage  might  be  given;  the  Purport  of  which  as  appear.-  hy  tic-  Let- 
ter, was  to  request  the  Attendance  of  the  Mini-ter  of  this  Parish  one 
Sunday  in  tie-  .Month,  at  S-  James's  Church.  It  was  accordingly  done, 
in  a  full  Congregation  &  every  Person  present  was  unanimous  in  agreeing 
thereto;  &  no  Vestry  meeting,  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Vestry  were  waited 

upon  by  M'  Worsley  t<>  know  if  they  agr 1  with  the  Congregation  \-  B. 

Rumsey,  Esq,  Col.  A.  Cowan,  J.  15.  Howard  K-q,  T  <<  Howard  K-.|, 
Major  Ja"  Gittings  &  Mr  John  Day,  severally  declared  their  A.--ent 
thereto;  Mr  Worsley  therefore  proposed  the  following  Regulations  for 
Divine  Service 

Monthly  Quod  Atte-tor  Romans 

The  first  Sunday  — at  Joppa  Geo  II   Wor.-hy. 

The  second  Sunday  —  at  MT-  Hunters  in  Joppa  Parish 
(i 


42  Extracts  from  the 

The  third  Sunday  —  at  Joppa 

The  fourth  Sunday  —  at  S'  James's  Church 

The  fifth  Sunday  —  at  Joppa. 

Joppa  Dec'  11.  1780 
Rec^  of  the  Rev*?  M*  G.  H.  Worsley  Orders  for  Twenty  One  Bushels  of 
"Wheat  being   in  full  for   my  Sallary  from  March  1780  to  March  1781 
f  me 

Alexander  Gray. 
Mess1? 

10        A.  Cowan 
7        S.  Birckhead 
4        W.  Mashers 

21 

[Dec.  24,  1781.] 

Hannah  Ingram  the  Sexton  appeared  and  informed  the  Vestry  M*  Phil- 
lips protested  the  Order  for  seven  Bushells  of  "Wheat  part  of  her  Sallery 
due  for  the  Year  1780  and  also  prayed  Payment  for  the  Year  1781. 

[June  3,  1782.] 

The  Register  is  ordered  to  write  to  the  Tennants  on  the  Gleib  to  come 
and  Settle  their  Accounts  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Vestry. 


All  Saints'  Parish,  Calvert  County. 

Ann?  1704 
•  Viz 

July  ye  2*     This  day  ye  Vestry  meett    M'  Thomas  Cocksutt 
Then  ye  Vistry  agreed  with  Tho.  Seager    M'  James  Heigh 
to  be  sexton  for  to  take  care  &  look  after     M'  Wm  Dar rumple 
y*  Church  &  also  to  sweep  itt  &  Open  ye     M' Joseph  Hall 
Church  doors  and  Windows  &  to  secure     M*  Jn°  Smith  att  Cocktown 
them  againe  &  in  ye  Winter  time  to  make     M*  Jn°  Smith  att  Hallerick 
fire  in  y9  Vestry  &  also  to  cleare  ye  Spring  &  doe  all  things  fitting  for 
ye  Said  place  &  in  consideration  thereof  they  agree  to  allow  him  one  halfe 
of  ye  profitts  old  "Wm  ye  Duchman  ye  Other  halfe  &  after  y*  to  have 
ye  whole  proffits  ariseing  theirefrom 

ye  Vestry  Adjd  till  ye  next 
meeting 
Jan1?  5th  1710 

Resolved  that  Those  p'sons  that  take  up  Pews  &  not  freeholders,  haue 
the  pews  no  longer  then  they  Continue  in  the  parish,  &  "When  they 


Parish  Records  of  Maryland.  43 

remoue,  or  dye,  the  pew  to  belong  to  the  parish,  to  be  disposed  of  by  tl.e 
Vestry. 

Or'1!1  y'.  M'  Wadsworth  pay  to  M*  W-  Smith  Two  hand-  pound  of 
Tobaco,  due  from  him  to  the  parish  for  his  part  of  the  pew  in  the  porch. 

[Nov.  15,  1711  ] 

....  ordred  that  Tho- Seager  burn  the  Leaues  Round  tho  Church  and 
Church  y-  and  at  all  Times  To  "fTformo  his  office  of  Sexton  as  formerly 
Takeing  noe  Notice  of  What  Tho"  Hillry  forewarneing  him  to  Digg 
Graues. 

[May  8,  1721.] 

At  a  Vestrey  met  and  held  at  All  S*  Parish  Church  Caluert  County 
the  Eight  day  of  .May  One  Thoussand  Seven  Hundred  Twenty  one,  by 
the  Vestrey  men  thereunto  appointed  and  authorised  being  "p'r,i''"t 

MT  Thomas  Cockshutt 
M?    James  Heighe 
Mr  John  Smith 
Mr  Abraham  Downe 
Ordered  that  the  Clerk  of  the  Vestrey  do  Enter  the  Deposition-  of  Charity 
Whittington,  and  Naomy  Doreing  in  the   Register  of  All  Saints   Parish 
and  also  to  Register  the  birth  of  Leuine  Bagby  who  was  born  in  tie-  year 
of  our  Lord  lt>77  as  appears  by  an  Old  bible,  now  in  the  Clerks  hands  and 
presented  to  this  Vestrey. 

Ordered  that  Samuel  ffowler  Sen1-  be  allowed  one  Thousand  pound  of 
Tobacco  for  his  being  Sexton  and  Looking  after  the  Church  this  Knsueing 
year. 

The  Vestrey  Ajourns  till  the  15th  of  this  Instant. 

[Oct.  9,  1722.] 

It  is  agreed  on  by  the  Vestry  that  M*  Thomas  Lingan  A:  partners  hauo 
their  Choice  of  the  pews  in  the  New  porch  in  Consideration  that  the  pulpit 
be  Removed  into  their  Few  —  »'•'  27. 

[Oct    30.  1722.] 

Order'd  that  Samuel  Howler  Sexton  Wash  and  Clean  the  Church  and 
Clear  the  Church  Yard  as  soon  as  possible  if  he  doth  ii"t  Comply  he  is  to 
be  mulct  of  his  wages. 

Order'. I  that  M' Richard  Smith  Merch'  hauo  the  fourth  part  of  the 
Ministers  pew  he  paying  to  the  Vestry  two  hundred  pounds  id'  Tobacco 
for  it. 

[May  •",,  1721.] 

Order'd  that  Coll.  John  Smith  and  MrSah*S  '1  :-  hauo  Liborty  to 
hauo  a  Small   Narrow  Window  made  with  an  Arch'd   Top  ouer  Kaeh  of 


44  Extracts  from  the 

their  Pews  prouided  that  it  doth  not  Damnify  the  Church  and  they  to 
haue  it  done  on  their  own  Cost. 

[Nov.  14,  1725.] 

The  Vestry  orders  Richard  Stallinges  Clk.  of  the  Vestry  to  go  to  Court 
to  desire  the  Court  to  Leuy  three  pounds  of  Tobacco  *$'  poll  on  ye  Taxa- 
ble persons  of  the  parish  to  pay  the  parish  Charges. 

[Apr.  11,  1726.] 

The  Vestry  agrees  with  Martin  Wells  Carpenter  to  mend  the  Upping 
Block  on  the  South  Side  of  the  Church  and  to  put  in  a  good  Locust  piece 
at  Each  Porch  door  and  the  Vestry  house  Door  to  fend  off  the  water  and 
agrees  to  pay  him  two  Hundred  pounds  of  Tobacco. 

[May  15,  1729] 

Then  the  Vestry  Laid  out  the  S*  Parish  into  nine  precincts  and  Chose 
two  persons  in  Each  precinct  to  be  Counters  of  Tobacco  &c  according  to 
the  Act  of  Assembly 

Ordered  that  R*?  Stallinges  Clk.  of  the  Vestry  giue  to  Each  and  E%'ery 
of  the  Counters  a  Copy  of  the  Order  for  their  being  Chosen  by  the  Vestry 
and  a  Copy  of  their  Precincts. 

[July  4,  1734.] 

Ordered  that  the  Necessaries  for  the  parish  use  that  Cap'  Joseph  Wil- 
kinson was  to  Send  to  England  for,  that  the  Reverend  M-,  James  Wil- 
liamson doth  agree  with  the  Vestry  to  Send  for,  and  to  Charge  but  Twenty 
five  'ffi-  Cent  Sterling  on  them  from  the  first  purchase  of  them  and  to 
haue  Tobacco  for  the  Same  at  a  penny  p*  pound  Sterling  Viz-  a  purple 
Velvet  Cushion  a  yard  Long  for  the  Pulpit  with  Gold  fring,  a  Large 
Church  Prayer  Book,  a  new  Surplice,  for  a  man  of  midle  Stature,  a  Spade, 
and  a  Decent  free  Stone  font  for  the  Church,  Ordered  that  the  Reverend 
M*  James  Williamson  haue  an  order  on  MT.Gabriel  Parker  late  Sherf  for 
the  Ballance  that  is  in  his  hand  due  to  All  S1-8  Parish  in  part  of  pay  for 
the  above  Necessaries. 

The  Vestry  fines  M?  William  Holland  Vestry  man  and  Mr.  Roger 
Boyce  Church  Warden  for  their  not  attending  at  this  Vestry  the  Sum  of 
fifty  pounds  of  Tob"  Each. 

[Dec.  8,  1734.] 

The  Vestry  Adjourns  for  one  Hour,  then  to  meet  at  the  House  of  the 
Reverend  M-. James  Williamson  to  View  the  Library  &c. 

Then  the  Vestry  did  View  the  Library  and  found  all  in  order  according 
to  the  Cattulogue  except  two  Books  which  were  wanting  [Viz.]  the  Prac- 
tical Believer  in  8Vo:  and  Doctor  Hornecks  Delight  and  Judgment. 


Parish  liecords  of  Maryland.  45 

[Nov.  30,  1736] 

This  day  M*  Richard  Blake  Vestryman   Reported  to  this  Vestry  that 

himself  and  Ml  James  Heighe  Church  Warden  forewarn'd  George 

and  Mary not  to  Cohabit  together  for  the  future  upon  their  Pen- 
alty as  the  Law  in  that  Case  Provides. 

[Nov   2,  1742.] 

Old-  that  R'-  Stallinges  Reg'  Set  up  Advertisement  at  x"  Church  Di«ir 
to  acquaint  ye  parishoners  of  S-  parish  that  they  come  forthwith  to  SJ 
Reg'  &  haue  all  former  &  futur  Births,  Marriages  and  Burial-  put  on  the 
Parish  Records  or  they  will  be  prosecuted  as  the  Law  Directs. 

[May  19,  1747  ] 

Order'd  that  R'!  Stallinges  Clk.  of  the  Vestry  go  to  M'  John  Skinner 
&  know  if  he  will  undertake  the  Tarring  and  find  the  tarr  and  workman 
to  Tarr  ye  Roof  and  weather  boards  of  the  Church  and  to  know  hi-  Lowest 
price  and  when  he  Can  haue  it  done. 

[Apr.  11,  1748  ] 

Order'd  that  the  Vestry  Clk:  draws  orders  on  M'  Daniel  Rawlings  Slur. 
to  pay  unto  Michall  Askew  Sexton  10OOlb  Tob  and  to  Richard  Stallinges 
Vestry  Clk  1000  D° 

Order'd  that  the  Clk:  Sett  up  Advertisements  to  sjivo  notice  that  the 
vestry  will  Dispose  oft*  7000  and  odd  pounds  of  Tobacco  in  the  Shcr" 
hands  for  Cur-  money  to  the  highest  Bidder  at  All  b'*  Parish  Church  on 
the  first  tuesday  in  June  next, 

[Mar.  (i,  1749.] 

Order'd  that  tin;  Absent  (lent,  of  the  Vestry  appear  at  the  next  W»try 
to  Show  Cause  why  they  did  not  attend  at  this  Vestry  and  that  the  Clk 
of  the  Vestry  giue  notice  to  them. 

[Apr.  lti,  1750.] 

Then  the  Vestry  Chose  Mes"  Sam"  Austin  and  Sam-  Robertson  for 
Inspectors  in  the  Room  of  M-  W"  Miller  dun-  Deceased  to  he  transmitted 
to  his  Excellency  with  all  Convenient  Speed 

M  \V—  Hickman  Discharg'd  from  being  a,  Vestryman  on  ace  i«f  being 
an  Inspector. 

[Nov.  r,,  17.11.1 

Orderd  That  yc  Clerk  Give  Notice  to  Mr  John  Skinner  Sh.rritV  f. « 'ive 
an  Aeco:  of  y"  Insolvenccs  by  Name,  and  also  the  Dividend  "f  llie  Vcstr\  's 
part  of  Tobacco. 


46  Extracts  from  the 

Addenda. 

[1J 
Sir: 

I  should  be  much  obliged  to  you  if  you  would  please  to  call  at  M. 
Andrews  before  you  leave  Town  this  afternoon  as  a  young  man  &  young 
[woman]  are  there  waiting  for  you  in  great  Need  of  your  Assistance 
I  am  Sir 
Sunday  Your  most  Ob' 

April  28,  65  *     *        *    * 


[2] 
Rev!  Sir/ 

Your  &  Mistr8  Deans  Company  is  Desired  at  the  funeral  of  Doctor 
Josias  Midlemore  next  thursday  being  the  20th  Instant.  It  is  to  hold  at 
Sk  Georges  Church. 

If  you  will  be  So  good  as  to  give  notice  to  Your  Congregation  that 
those  who  are  Inclined  to  Come  may  know  the  day  &  that  there  will  be 
a  Sermon  will  very  much  oblige  Your's 

by  order  from  Mis-  And™  Lendrum 

Midlemore 

Saturday  16^  1755. 

[3] 

To  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Vestrey  of  All  St8  Parish. 

This  is  to  Certifio  you  That  I  Assign  ouer  all  my  Right  and  Title  of  my 
part  of  the  pew  N°  6,  which  is  in  partnership  with  William  Wood,  unto 
Thomas  Haruey  of  S*  Parish  and  his  Heirs  for  Euer,  and  pray  that  the 
same  may  be  Recorded  in  the  Records  of  All  S's  Parish,  I  hauing  receiued 
full  Satisfaction  for  the  Same  as  Witness  my  hand  this  9'b  day  of  May  1720 

Testes  Robert  Sumnar. 

Rich.  Stallinges. 

[4] 

This  Indenture  made  this  Eleventh  day  of  October  In  the  Year  of  Our 
Lord  One  thousand  Seven  hundred  and  Sixty  four  Between  John  Clagett 
of  Frederick  County  and  Province  of  Maryland  of  the  one  part  Gentle- 
man And  The  Reverend  M-  Alexander  Williamson  Rector  of  Prince 
Georges  Parish  in  the  County  and  Province  aforesaid  of  the  other  part 
Witnesseth  That  th.e  said  John  Clagett  being  sensible,  how  much  neces- 
sity there  is  for  having  a  Publick  Schooll  in  the  Parish  aforesaid,  for  the 


Parish  Records  of  Maryland.  47 

Instruction  of  Youth  ;  and  one  Corner  of  his  Land  having  been  deemed 
Convenient  for  Erecting  the  said  house  upon  :  He  therefore  out  of  Senti- 
ments of  Tenderness  and  Regard  for  the  rising  Generation,  Hath,  given 
granted  aliened  Infeoffed  and  confirmed  and  by  these  presents  doth  freely 
and  clearly  give  grant  alien  Infeoff  and  confirm  unto  the  .-aid  M*  Alex- 
ander Williamson  and  his  Successors  for  the  use  of  a  Publick  School  for 
ever  All   that  part  of  a  Tract  of  Land  being  part  of  a  Tract   of  Land 

called  Clagetts  purchase  lying  in  the  Parish  and  County  aforesaid 

Signed  Sealed  and  Delivered  John  Clagett. 

in  the  Presence  of 

Clui'1  Jones 

Andrew  Heigh. 

[5] 
Maryland  ss. 

In  the  name  of  God  Amen  I  Bevill  Granville  Rector  of  the  parish  of 
William  &  Mary  in  charles  County  in  the  province  aforesaid  do  by  these 
presents  resign  and  give  up  to  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  Proprietary 
all  my  right  title  &  interest  in  the  said  living  of  William  &,  Mary  in  the 
County  aforesaid  &  to  all  perquisites  benefits  &  advantages  thereto 
belonging.     "Witness  my  hand  this  '2~>  day  of  January  1732 

Witness.  Bevill  Granville 


48       Extracts  from  the  Parish  Records  of  Maryland. 


WEST    DOOR. 


GROUND    PLAN 


OLD    PARISH   CHURCH 


ST.  PAUL'S,  KENT  ISLAND. 


From  the  Rev.  Dr.  Allen's  Manuscript  History. 


VII 


OLD  MARYLAND  MANORS 


"Keep  leets  and  law-days  and  in  sessions  sit." — Othello. 

"  You  would  present  her  at  the  leet  because  she  brought  stone  jugs  and  no  sealed 
quarts." — Taming  of  the  Shreu: 

"I  know  my  remedy;  I  must  go  fetch  the  third  borough"  [Tithingman]. — Taming  of 
the  Shrew. 

"A  Ty  thing-man  in  each  Manor,  a  Constable  in  each  Hundred." — Bacon,  Laws  of  Mary- 
land, 1638. 

"  Proces  in  Court  Baron  est  Summons,  Attachement  &  Dislres,  que  est  proces  al  commo 
Ley." — Le  Court  Leele  et  Court  Baron,  John  Kilchin.    London,  1C23. 

"  And  By-laws  for  the  common  weale  may  be  made  in  a  Leet."— Antiquity,  Authority,  and 
Uses  of  Leets,  Robert  Powell.    London,  1641. 

"We  also,  by  these  Presents  do  give  and  grant  licence  to  the  same  Baron  of  Baltimore 
and  to  his  heirs,  to  erect  any  parcels  of  land  within  the  Province  aforesaid  into  manors, 
and  in  every  of  those  manors  to  have  and  hold  a  Court  Baron  ....  and  view  of  Frank- 
Pledge,  for  the  conservation  of  the  peace  and  better  government  of  those  parts." — Charter 
of  Maryland,  Art.  19. 

"And  We  do  ...  .  authorize  you  that  every  two  thousand  acres  ....  so  to  he  passed 

....  be  erected  and  created  into  a  mannor And  we  do  hereby  further  authorize 

you  that  you  cause  to  be  granted  unto  every  of  the  said  Adventurers  within  every  of  their 
said  manors  respectively,  ....  a  Court  Barron  and  Court  Leet,  to  be  from  time  to  time 
held " — Instructions  from  Lord  Baltimore  to  Governor  Calvert,  1636. 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

I  N 

Historical   and   Political    Science 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 


History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History.  —  Freeman 


VII 


OLD  MARYLAND  MANORS 


With  the  Records  of  a  Court  Leet  and  a  Court  Barou 


By  JOHN   JOHNSON,  A.  B. 


B  A  LTIMO  R  K 

Pt'iiListiKD  Kv  tiik  .Johns  Hopkins  I'nivi.umiv 

MAY,   1883. 


JOHN   MURPHY  &  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


OLD  MARYLAND  MANORS. 


A  striking  contrast  between  the  North  and  the  South  is 
presented  by  the  small  landholders  of*  the  former  and  the 
great  estates  of  the  latter.  Tracts  of  thousands  of  acres  wen; 
not  at  all  uncommon  in  colonial  Maryland,  and  sometimes 
land-grants  included  even  tens  of  thousands.  These  irreat 
estates  had  a  strong  shaping  influence  on  the  life  of  early 
Maryland.  Separating  their  owners  by  wide  intervals,  they 
prevented  that  association  of  interests  and  feelings  that  was 
strong  in  the  towns  of  the  northern  colonies.  The  man  who 
lived  in  the  center  of  a  tract  of  ten  thousand  acres  must 
necessarily  have  been  thrown  largely  upon  his  own  resources  for 
amusement  and  for  culture.  The  cooperation  which  makes 
schools  and  libraries  of  easy  attainment  in  a  thickly  settled 
community  was  absent  among  such  people.  Consequently  edu- 
cation could  be  obtained  only  at  great  cost  and  inconvenience. 
The  planter  who  was  determined  to  have  his  children  well 
taught  had  to  send  them  abroad,  as  was  done  in  the  case  of 
Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton. 

There  were  some  towns  founded  in  Maryland,  it  is  true,  in 
the  earliest  days.  The  vanished  city  of  St.  Mary's,  the  lost 
Joppa,  and  others  that  have  disappeared  as  completely  as 
the  "cities  of  the  plain,"  furnished  a  stimulus  to  civiliza- 
tion in  some  parts  of  the  colony.  But  in  spite  of  these  in- 
stances, it  is  true  that  most  of  the  life  of  Maryland  in  the  lat- 
ter half  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  was  country  lite.  And  it  was  a  country  life  that  pre- 
sented many  analogies  to  tli,e  country  lite  of  Englishmen 
during  the  same  period. 

5 


6  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

The  first  generation  of  Maryland  planters  led  that  sort  of 
hand-to-mouth,  happy-go-lucky  existence  that  marked  the 
beginning  of  all  the  colonies.  Until  means  became  adapted 
to  ends,  but  little  comfort  and  still  less  culture,  were  to  be 
found.  Many  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  high  consideration 
made  their  cross-mark  on  titles, deeds  and  conveyances.  Their 
ignorance,  however,  was  the  knowledge  of  the  class  from 
which  the  best  born  of  them  sprang — the  English  country 
gentry  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  share  of  Maryland  planters  in  the  conveniences  of  life 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  large  at  first,  though  even  then 
they  made  an  attempt  at  good  living.  In  the  inventory 
accompanying  the  will  of  Governor  Leonard  Calvert,  the  item 
of  a  silver  sack-cup  follows  that  of  two  pairs  of  socks.  Sack 
probably  occupied  far  more  personal  attention  than  did  wear- 
ing apparel.  Indeed,  one  of  our  historians  ventures  the  state- 
ment that  this  potent  liquor  is  oftener  mentioned  in  the  records 
of  Maryland  than  in  the  pages  of  Shakespeare.  Beds  in  the 
early  days  were  lamentably  lacking.  Travellers  either  deprived 
the  host  of  his,  or  slept  upon  deer  skins  or  fodder  piled  upon 
the  floor.  All  the  appointments  of  a  household  were  necessa- 
rily meagre. 

But  after  this  early  period  had  passed  and  Marylanders  had 
learned  for  good  and  all  of  what  their  soil  and  their  climate 
were  capable,  a  settled  order  of  things  began,  which  continued 
into  the  present  century.  The  life  of  the  Maryland  planter  of 
this  second  period  was  such  as  left  few  traces  in  the  written 
accounts  that  have  come  down  to  us.  In  the  few  letters  and 
journals  of  the  colonial  epoch — few,  because  so  rarely  the  colo- 
nists had  the  knowledge,  and  more  rarely  still  the  taste  to  write 
either  letters  or  journals — in  these  few  are  to  be  found  histor- 
rical  suggestions.  Of  the  famous  estates  of  the  colonial  era,  a 
small  number  are  still  in  the  hands  of  the  descendants  of  col- 
onial families.  An  idea  of  the  former  condition  of  things  can 
be  obtained  by  visiting  these  localities.  There  are  still  found 
the  ancient  houses,  the  chapels,  the  out-buildings,  that  have 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  7 

remained  from  colonial  times.  There,  more  clearly  than  else- 
where, we  may  see  the  vestiges  of  the  old  aristocratic  spirit 
which  has  almost  disappeared  under  the  democratic'  attrition 
of  more  than  a  century.  These  traces  will  not  last  much 
longer,  and  if  any  record  of  this  old  system  is  to  he  kept,  it 
should  be  made  at  once. 

The  (Adverts  desired  to  found  in  Maryland  a  new  landed 
aristocracy.  Though  the  "Bill  for  Baronies"  never  passed 
the  Assembly,  the  Proprietor  was  able  to  establish  manors, 
and  to  give  to  the  manorial  lords  rights  of  jurisdiction  over 
their  tenants.  The  lord  of  the  manor  thus  became  a  person 
of  prime  importance.  "While  his  wealth  as  a  large  land- 
holder gave  him  one  element  of  consideration,  his  judicial 
dignity  gave  him  another. 

The  reason  the  settlers  consented  to  the  introduction  of  this 
system  is  not  hard  to  find.  Our  Maryland  ancestors,  follow- 
ing the  example  of  certain  great  proprietors,  proposed  to  live 
in  scattered,  rural  ways,  on  large  estates.  The  manorial  sys- 
tem, which  had  been  used  for  a  like  purpose  in  the  old  coun- 
try, lay  ready  to  their  hands  and  they  adopted  it.  Similarly, 
the  men  of  Xew  England,  proposing  to  live  in  close  com- 
munities, adopted  the  township  system.  Once  taken  up,  tie 
manorial  system  became  general,  so  that  English  manors, 
English  halls,  English  lords  of  the  manor  were  scattered  all 
over  our  State. 

In  accordance  with  his  charter  right,*  the  Proprietary,  in 
1636,  issued  instructions  that  every  two  thousand  acres  given 
to  any  adventurer  should  be  erected  into  a  manor,  with  "  a 
Court  Barron  and  a  Court  Leet,  to  be  from  time  to  time  held 
within  every  such  mannor  respectively/'  f  These  instructions 
were  repeated  many  times,  and  the  records  are  filled  with 
such  grants.  Capt.  George  Evelin,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of 
Eveliiiton,  in   St.  Mary's  county;    Marmadukc  Tilden,  Lord 

*  Sec  Charter  of  Maryland,  Art.  1'.'. 

f  Kilty,  p.  31.      Conditions  of  Plantation,  lGuli. 


8  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

of  Great  Oak  Manor,  and  Major  James  Ringgold,  Lord  of 
the  Manor  on  Eastern  Neck,  both  in  Kent;  Giles  Brent,  Lord 
of  Kent  Fort,  on  Kent  Island ;  George  Talbot,  of  Susque- 
hanna Manor,  in  Cecil  county;  these  are  a  few  names  picked 
at  random.  In  the  Library  of  the  Maryland  Historical 
Society  is  to  be  found  a  conveyance  dated  1734  for  a  parcel 
of  land  to  be  held  "as  of  the  Manor  of  Nanticoke."  In  the 
same  collection  are  preserved  the  rent-roll  of  Queen  Anne's 
Manor,  and  a  statement  of  the  sale,  in  1767,  of  twenty-seven 
manors,  embracing  one  hundred  thousand  acres.  In  1776, 
there  were  still  unsold  seventy  thousand  acres  of  proprietary 
manors  lying  in  nine  counties.  *  In  the  Maryland  Reports  f 
is  to  be  found  a  notable  law  suit  over  Anne  Arundel  Manor. 
The  Proprietor,  Lord  Frederick  Calvert,  sought  by  means  of 
a  common  recovery  to  break  the  entail  upon  the  manor,  and 
thus  prevent  its  passing  into  the  hands  of  a  natural  son  of  the 
former  Proprietor. 

At  the  present  day  we  find  many  estates  called  manors. 
Those  that  have  attracted  most  notice  are  My  Lady's  Manor 
and  Bohemia  Manor.  At  the  beautiful  and  historic  seat  of  the 
Hon.  John  Lee  Carroll,  Doughoregan  Manor,  the  name,  the 
mansion,  the  chapel,  the  grounds,  all  still  show  surviving  evi- 
dences of  the  original  state  of  affairs.  But  it  is  with  the 
social  side  of  this  system  that  we  are  here  concerned.  Its 
civic  aspect  will  be  treated  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  paper. 
It  is,  however,  rather  the  patriarchal  than  the  feudal  type  of 
society  that  is  presented  at  the  period  we  have  materials  for 
describing.  It  is  not  easy  to  picture  the  combined  elegance 
and  simplicity  of  those  old  homesteads — the  appearance  they 
presented  of  aristocratic  state  mingled  with  republican  good- 
fellowship.  The  entrance  to  the  place  was,  perhaps,  through 
a  wood  of  old  oaks  and  chestnuts,  that  had  passed  their  sapling 
growth  a  century  before  George  Calvert,  first  Baron  of  Balti- 


*  Scharf  II.,  p.  104. 

f  2  Harris  &  McHenry,  p.  279. 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  9 

more,  appeared  as  a  stripling  in  the  English  Court.  Emerg- 
ing from  the  wood,  the  road  was  lined  with  a  double  colonnade 
of  locusts  or  beeches  with  footpaths  between.  Xearing  the 
mansion,  pines  and  firs  replaced  the  deciduous  trees,  and  the 
evergreen  branches  formed  a  symbol  of  the  ever  fresh  hospi- 
tality awaiting  the  approaching  guest. 

Before  the  door  stood  the  old  elms,  planted  by  the  founder 
of  the  family,  and  the  lawn  was  terraced  in  the  English  style. 
The  turf — a  peculiar  pride  of  the  master  of  the  house — was 
so  thick  and  close  that  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  finger's 
breadth  of  earth  without  its  blade  of  grass.  Conifers  stood 
at  intervals  over  the  half  dozen  acres  forming  the  lawn,  and 
at  either  end  of  a  terrace  a  catalpa  with  a  trunk  of  Califor- 
nian   proportions  shaded  a  rustic  seat. 

The  house  itself  was  in  most  cases  a  long,  low  structure  of 
brick.  The  finest  residences  were  remarkable  for  their  large 
size  and  striking  appearance.  *  The  rooms  of  the  old  houses 
were  grouped  about  a  large  hall-way  in  which  some  of  the 
family  usually  sat.  The  walls  everywhere  were  wainseotted 
to  the  ceiling.  Sometimes  the  woodwork  was  finely  carved 
and  of  rare  material.  Upon  the  walls  hung  the  portraits  of 
the  ancestors  of  the  family,  often  as  far  back  as  six  or  seven 
generations.  A  side-board  in  the  dining-room  displayed  a 
portion  of  the  plate,  bearing  the  family  crest.  Flanking  the 
plate  stood  a  great  array  of  glasses  and  decanters.  For  in  the 
early  days  the  proper  discharge  of  the  sacred  duty  of'  hospital- 
ity involved  various  strong  potations.  Even  now  the  visitor 
to  the  Maryland  country  house  is  almost  always  invited  to 
take  something  to  drink  on  entering  or  leaving  tin'  dwelling. 

Various  oflices  stood  around  the  mansion.  Notable  among 
them  was  the  stone  smoke-house.  The  quarters  of  mast-fed 
hogs  hung  from  the  roof,  and  the  fires  in  the  pit  below  were 
tended  by  superannuated  negroes,  their  faces  greasy  with  lard 
and  begrimed  with  soot  beyond  their  natural  blackness. 

*  Eddis'a  Letters. 
0 


10  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

In  some  places  the  family  chapel  stood  close  by  the  house. 
On  one  side  of  the  main  aisle  sat  the  slaves,  on  the  other  the 
free  white  tenants;  and  no  considerations  of  comfort  could 
induce  the  freemen  to  cross  the  interval  that  served  as  a 
boundary  between  them  and  the  despised  race.  Beneath  the 
brick  floor  of  the  chapel  and  marked  by  a  marble  slab,  were 
the  graves  of  dead  members  of  the  family  of  the  lord  of  the 
manor.  Any  one  attaining  special  distinction  was  buried  by 
the  side  of  the  chancel  and,  within  the  chancel  rails,  let  into 
the  wall  was  a  tablet  to  his  memory.  If  the  family  belonged 
to  the  ancient  church,  frescoes  and  oil  paintings,  occasionally 
copies  of  considerable  beauty,  adorned  the  place. 

The  mode  of  burial  curiously  illustrated  the  prevalent  feel- 
ing of  class  distinction,  and  at  the  same  time  preserved  an 
ancient  custom  of  the  mother  country.  While  the  lord's 
family  lay  buried  beneath  the  floor  in  the  chapel,  the  tenants' 
graves  were  at  a  distance  hidden  among  the  trees.  At  some 
of  these  graves  stood  a  neat  slab  of  stone  with  a  pious  inscrip- 
tion. Still  farther  removed,  with  only  a  board  as  a  memorial . 
of  each,  were  the  graves  of  the  slaves.  Not  even  death  could 
unite  what  God  had  put  asunder. 

At  a  considerable  distance  from  the  great  house  was  the 
dwelling  of  the  overseer.  Around  him  in  numbers  sufficient 
to  people  a  small  town,  lived  the  negroes  whose  labor  pro- 
duced the  wheat  and  tobacco  upon  which  the  fabric  of  society 
rested.  Out  of  the  number  of  these  dependents  a  few  of  the 
likeliest  went  to  the  mansion  as  domestic  servants. 

Scattered  at  intervals  over  the  estate,  wherever  their  farms 
lay,  were  the  houses  of  the  free  white  tenants.  The  tenant 
farms  were  frequently  several  hundred  acres  in  extent,  and 
were  held  on  leases  of  twenty-one  years.  The  rent  was  low 
and  was  usually  paid  in  kind,  not  in  money.  The  system  had 
some  of  the  evils  incident  to  English  land  tenure  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  and  has  now  given  way  to  short  leases,  or  has  dis- 
appeared entirely  by  the  breaking  up  of  the  estates  on  which 
it  was  practised. 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  11 

In  various  ways  on  those  estates  the  traditional  sports  of 
the  mother  country  were  kept  up.  One  of  the  patriarchs  of 
colonial  Maryland,  when  importuned  by  his  relatives  to  break 
the  entail  upon  his  estate,  replied  :  "  If  one  of  you  inherit  the 
whole,  1  shall  be  responsible  for  the  production  of  one  fox- 
hunter.  If  I  divide  it,  I  shall  make  as  many  fox-hunters  as 
I  make  heirs."  Fox-hunting  was  a  pursuit  in  which  Marv- 
landers  delighted.  In  no  characteristic  is  the  Englishry  of 
the  settlers  (to  use  Mr.  Freeman's  term)  more  clearly  shown 
than  in  this.  On  horses  that  seemed  almost  tireless,  and  with 
dogs  like  the  horses,  they  sometimes  chased  Reynard  across 
the  eastern  peninsula,  from  the  Chesapeake  to  the  Atlantic. 
The  return  journey  and  the  stops  at  hospitable  mansions  on 
the  way  took  more  time  than  the  pursuit  of  the  fox,  and  the 
whole  expedition  sometimes  lasted  a  week. 

Aside  from  the  social  aspect  of  these  old  estates,  they  are 
also  worthy  of  notice  from  a  civic  point  of  view.  The  history 
of  Maryland  owes  its  interest  not  so  much  to  striking  events 
as  to  the  continuity  of  old  English  institutions  and  ancient 
habits  of  local  self-government.  When  the  early  colonists 
came  to  Maryland  they  invented  no  administrative  or  judicial 
methods.  The  old  institutions  of  England  were  transplanted 
to  Maryland  and  acclimatized.  In  the  new  soil  they  were 
modified  and  destroyed,  or  they  were  modified  and  perpetu- 
ated, lint  in  either  case  there  is  perfect  continuity  between 
the  institutions  of  colonial  Maryland  and  those  of  the  older 
country.  For  our  new  institutions,  like  new  species,  were 
not  created;  they  grew  from  the  old.  Lord  Baltimore 
modeled  his  colony  alter  the  Palatinate  of  Durham,  and  the 
details  of  local  administration  were  what  they  had  been  at 
home.      Old  methods  were  adapted   to  new  conditions. 

The  manor  was  the  land  on  which  the  lord  and  his  tenants 
lived,  and  bound  up  with  tin;  land  were  also  the  rights  ol  gov- 
ernment which  the  lord  posse.-sed  over  tin1  tenants,  ami  they 
over  one  another.  For  the  owner-hip  of'  the  manorial  estate 
carried    with  it   the   right   to   hold    two  courts,  in    which   dis- 


12  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

putes  could  be  decided  and  tenant  titles  established  and 
recorded  ;  and  in  which,  also,  residents  on  the  estate  exercised 
a  limited  legislative  power.  These  manorial  jurisdictions  have 
descended  from  a  time  previous  to  the  accession  of  Edward 
the  Confessor,  and  their  reproduction  and  continuance  in 
Maryland  form  a  striking  instance  of  the  permanence  of 
ancient  English  customs. 

A  tradition  has  come  down  in  Maryland  that  these  courts 
were  held  occasionally  by  members  of  the  Proprietary  family 
owning  manors.*  In  a  court  baron,  held  on  St.  Gabriel's 
Manor,  in  1649,  the  steward  gave  a  tenant  seizin  by  the  rod, 
each  party,  according  to  ancient  custom,  retaining  as  evidence 
of  the  transfer  a  part  of  a  twig  broken  in  the  ceremony,  f  In 
the  library  of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society  are  preserved 
the  records  of  a  court  baron  and  a  court  leet  of  St.  Clement's 
Manor,  in  St.  Mary's  county,  held  at  intervals  between  1G59 
and  1672.  |  We  can  hardly  believe  that  these  records  are  the 
only  ones  of  their  kind  that  were  kept  in  the  Province.  For 
a  single  one  that  has  been  preserved  there  must  have  been 
many  lost.  When  we  consider  that  so  many  documents 
belonging  to  the  government  of  the  colony,  and  for  whose 
preservation  great  precautions  were  once  taken,  have  never- 
theless been  destroyed,  it  will  appear  but  natural  that  papers 
left  entirely  in  private  hands,  and  of  but  little  value  or  inter- 
est to  their  possessors  should  have  entirely  disappeared. 
Moreover,  as  will  presently  be  shown  in  detail,  the  profits  of 
the  manorial  courts  were  not  inconsiderable.  Consequently, 
they  would  not  soon  be  relinquished.  Nor  is  it  likely,  where 
every  owner  of  two  thousand  acres  could  obtain  these  rights 
of  jurisdiction,  that  only  two  persons  in  the  whole  Province 


*  Kilty,  p.  93. 

f  Bozman,  vol.  2,  note,  p.  372.  The  same  old  English  custom  obtained 
in  early  New  England. 

%  See  Appendix  for  a  copy  of  these  records,  furnished  by  the  kindness 
of  the  Librarian  of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society,  J.  W.  M.  Lee. 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  13 

would  exorcise  tliem.  It  seems  probable  that  in  the  early 
period  of  the  existence  of  the  colony  manorial  courts  were  not 
uncommon. 

The  popular  court  of  the  manor  was  the  court  leet  or 
court  of  the  people.  When  the  grant  of  the  leet  included  the 
view  of  frankpledge,  as  in  the  Maryland  manors,  that  cere- 
mony took  place  at  the  leet,  though  in  the  records  no  mention 
of  the  view  is  made.  At  the  opening  of  the  leet,  the  steward, 
who  was  the  judge,  having  taken  his  place,  the  bailiff  made 
proclamation  with  three  "Oyez,"and  commanded  all  to  draw 
near  and  answer  to  their  names  upon  "pain  and  perill." 
Then  followed  the  empanelling  of  a  jury  from  the  assembled 
residents  on  the  manor,  all  of  whom  between  the  ages  of 
twelve  years  and  sixty  were  required  to  be  present.  The 
duties  of  a  leet  jury  seem  to  have  been  those  of  both  grand  and 
petty  juries.  All  felonies  and  lesser  offenses  were  enquirable. 
The  statute,  18  Edw.  II.,  names  the  following  persons  as 
proper  to  be  investigated  at  a  leet: 

"Such  as  have  double  measure  and  buy  by  the  great  and 
sell  by  the  less.  .  .  .  Such  as  haunt  taverns  and  no  man 
knoweth  whereon  they  do  live.  .  .  .  Such  as  sleep  by  day 
and  watch  by  night,  and  fare  well  and  have  nothing, — "  a  set 
that  need  watching.  The  leet  had  also  a  general  supervision 
of  trade,  fixed  the  price  of  bread  and  ale,  *  and  set  its  hands 
on  butchers  that  sold  "corrupt  victual."  The  game  laws  also 
were  enforced  by  the  leet.  At  the  leet  held  at  St.  Clement's, 
in  St.  Mary's  county,  Robert  Cooper  was  fined  for  fowling 
without  license  on  St.  Clement's  Island.  The  notion  that 
hunting  was  for  the  rich  alone  showed  itself  in  another  way. 
Of  the  chase  or  park  of  the  English  manors,  some  traces  may 
be  found  in  Maryland.  A  writer  in  "A  Description  of  the 
Province  of  New  Albion,"  which  adjoined  Maryland  on  the 
cast,  speaks  of  "  storing  his  Parks  with  Elks  and  fallow  1  >eor," 
probably  following  a  Maryland  example.     On  the  Bohemia 

*  Seo  Appendix  fur  instances. 


14  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

Manor,  the  remains  of  tlie  walls  of  a  deer  park  were  pointed 
out  as  late  as  1859.*  That  any  necessity  existed  for  a  park 
is  not  to  be  believed.  Venison  was  so  common  a  food  that 
Hammond,  in  Leah  and  Rachel,  says  "that  venison  is 
accounted  a  tiresome  meat."  An  aping  of  aristocratic  man- 
ners may,  perhaps,  have  induced  some  of  the  settlers  to  enclose 
a  wood  for  a  park,  but  nothing  else  could  have  done  so. 

Another  important  function  of  the  court  leet,  was  the  levy- 
ing of  a  deodand  or  fine  upon  the  cause  of  any  accident  to  life 
or  limb.  A  reckless  driver  running  over  a  child  or  a  careless 
woodman  felling  a  tree  and  killing  a  passer-by,  was  mulcted 
by  the  jury  of  the  leet.  Before  the  period  of  Maryland  man- 
ors, the  cart  or  the  tree  causing  the  injury  became  the  prop- 
erty of  the  lord,  the  idea  being  that  he  would  expend  its 
value  in  masses  for  the  soul  of  the  deceased.  In  this  is  prob- 
ably to  be  found  the  origin  of  the  name  given  to  the  payment, 
deodand.  f  In  actual  fact,  however,  the  soul  of  the  departed 
was  not  of  sufficient  importance  in  the  eyes  of  most  lords  to 
compel  the  loss  of  a  piece  of  property  so  easily  acquired  as  the 
forfeited  article. 

The  leet  could  enact  by-laws  regulating  the  intercourse  of 
residents  with  each  other,  and  the  regulations  had  all  the  force 
of  a  town  ordinance.  In  the  leet  also  constables,  ale-tasters, 
affeerors  and  bailiffs  were  elected;  and  interference  with  the 
exercise  of  their  duties,  as  breaking  into  the  pound,  taking 
away  impounded  cattle,  or  resisting  distraint  for  rent  was 
punishable  by  the  leet.  |     The  fines  imposed  went  to  the  lord 

*Scharf,  vol.  1,  p.  430. 

■J- See  interesting  remarks  on  this  topic  in  lectures  on  the  Common  Law 
by  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Jr. 

+  Manorial  courts  are  still  held  in  some  parts  of  Great  Britain.  In 
Notes  and  Queries,  October  21,  1882,  it  is  stated  that  on  October  3,  1882, 
a  court  leet.  for  the  manors  of  Williton  Regis,  Williton  Hadley  and  West 
Fulford  was  held.  Appointments  of  inspectors  of  weights  and  measures, 
of  bailiff,  and  of  hay  ward  were  made.  The  leet  for  the  town  of  Watchit 
was  held  also,  and  appointed  a  port-reeve,  ale-tasters,  a  crier,  a  stock 
driver  and  an  inspector.  Leets  were  also  held  the  same  month  on  the 
estates  of  the  Duke  of  Buccleugh.     (N.  &  Q.,  November  4,  1882.) 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  ]  5 

and  were  often  profitable.  Besides  fines,  other  punishments 
were  used.  In  1670  the  jury  of  St.  Clement's  leet  ordered 
the  erection  of  <la  pair  of  Stocks,  pillory  and  Ducking 
Stoole."  * 

The  presence  of  irresponsible  strangers  seems  to  have  been 
peculiarly  distasteful  to  our  ancestors.  By  a  law  of  Edward 
the  Confessor,  a  man  was  forbidden  to  entertain  a  stranger 
above  two  nights  unless  he  would  hold  his  guest  to  ri^ht. 
So  the  constable  on  the  manor  anciently  took  security  of  all 
heads  of  families  for  the  keeping  of  the  peace  by  strangers  in 
their  houses.  Curiously  enough,  the  leet  at  St.  Clement's 
presented  John  Mansell  for  "entertayning  Benjamin  Ilamon 
tv,  Cybil,  his  wife,  Inmates,"  and  ordered  him  "  to  remove 
his  inmates  or  give  security;"  a  proceeding  that  would  have 
been  in  perfect  keeping  a  thousand  years  ago. 

The  Maryland  county  justices  were  required  to  appoint 
constables  in  every  hundred,  who  swore  on  taking  office  to 
"levy  hue  and  cry  and  cause"  refractory  criminals  to  be 
taken.f  The  hue  and  cry  carries  us  back  to  remote  Anglo- 
Saxon  times,  when  all  the  population  went  to  hunt  the  thief. 
The  duties  of  the  manorial  constable  were  doubtless  the  same 
in  the  manor  as  those  of  the  constables  of  the  hundred  in 
their  districts. 

The  afl'cerors,  mentioned  above,  were  sworn  oflicers  chosen 
from  the  residents.  Their  duty  was  to  revise  the  fines 
imposed  by  the  leet  jury,  and  to  temper  justice  with  mercy. 
They  are  mentioned  several  times  in  the  records  of  St.  Clem- 
ent's, in  one  case  reducing  to  two  hundred  pounds  an  amerce- 
ment of  two  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  imposed  on  a  certain 
Gardiner,  who  had   taken  wild   hogs   belonging  to  the  lord.| 

The  Maryland  Indians  were  very  early  reduced  to  a  depen- 
dent condition,  and   it  became   the  dutv  of  the  leet  to  include 


*  Sec  Appendix. 

f  Park,,  Laws  of  Maryland    1708,  p.  99. 

+  Sec  Appendix. 


16  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

i 
them  in  its  policejurisdietion.  *  There  is  an  account  in  the  St. 
Clement  records  of  the  fining  of  two  Indian  boys  for  some 
thievish  pranks.  Moreover,  "  the  King  of  Chaptico"  him- 
self is  presented  for  stealing  a  sow  and  her  pigs  and  having 
"  raised  a  stock  of  them."  This  was  apparently  too  weighty 
a'  matter  for  the  simple  jury  of  the  tenants,  so  it  was  referred 
to  "ye  honble,  ye  Gov'."  The  matter  of  losing  hogs  seems  to 
have  been  a  great  grievance  for  the  tenants,  and  the  jury 
accordingly  reported  that  they  "conceive  that  Indians  ought 
not  to  keepe  hoggs,  for  under  pretence  of  them  they  may 
destroy  all  ye  hoggs  belonging  to  the  man*,  and  therefore 
they  ought  to  be  warned  now  to  destroy  them,  else  to  be 
fyned  att  the  next  court."  The  conquered  Britons  were 
treated  in  a  spirit  almost  as  liberal. 

The  elasticity  of  an  old  institution  like  the  leet  in  being 
thus  adapted  to  the  government  of  savages  is  worthy  of  note. 
It  is  a  striking  illustration,  also,  of  the  principle  that  impels 
men  to  adapt  old  forms  to  new  conditions,  and  it  deserves  to 
be  placed  by  the  side  of  the  institution  of  tithing  men  among 
the  Indians  of  Plymouth. f  Doubtless  other  methods  of  police 
and  government  for  the  Indians  were  adopted  in  various 
places  by  the  colonists,  and  curious  survivals  of  old  forms  like 
the  above  might  be  noted  by  the  investigator. 

In  the  court  baron  of  the  freeholders  the  freehold  ten- 
ants acted  as  both  jury  and  judges.  A  freeholder  could  be 
tried  only  before  his  peers.  So  that  if  the  freeholders  fell 
below  two  in  number  the  court  could  no  longer  be  held. 
Before  this  court  were  brought  points  in  dispute  between  the 
lord  and  his  tenants  as  to  rents,  forfeitures,  escheats,  trespass 
and  the  like.  Besides  these  matters,  actions  of  debt  between 
tenants  and  transfers  of  land  took  place  in  the  court  baron. 
Here,  also,  the   tenant  did  fealty  for  his  land,  swearing,  % 

*See  Appendix. 

f"  Studies,"  IV.     Saxon  Tithingmen  in  America,  p.  10. 

%  Gurdon,  p.  615.     See  Appendix  for  instances  of  swearing  fealty. 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  17 

"Hear  you,  my  lord,  that  I,  A.  B.,  shall  be  to  you  both  true 
and  faithful,  and  shall  owe  my  Fidelity  to  you  for  the  Land  I 
hold  of  you,  and  lawfully  shall  do  and  perforin  such  Customs 
and  Services  as  my  Duty  is  to  you,  at  the  terms  assigned,  so 
help  me  God  and  all  his  saints."  * 


*  Tlie  origin  of  manorial  courts  is  very  obscure  and  goes  back  to  nn 
early  period.  Among  the  Anglo-Saxons,  as  early,  perhaps,  as  the  eighth 
century,  conquest,  purchase,  grant  and  commendation  had  given  ri-e  to 
great  estates.  By  this  means  all  the  arable  land  in  some  neighborhoods 
became  the  property  of  a  wealthy  lord.  Consequently,  the  hitherto  inde- 
pendent village  community  of  owners  of  arable  land  became  a  dependent 
community  of  tenants.  At  the  same  time  hunting,  fishing,  pasture, 
wood  cutting,  all  the  rights  to  the  use  of  common  wild  land,  rights  that 
had  formerly  run  with  the  ownership  of  a  share  of  arable  hind,  became 
rights  of  the  lord,  to  be  exercised  and  enjoyed  by  the  tenant  only  by  the 
sufferance  of  the  lord.  Thus,  it  appears,  originated  the  title  of  the  lord 
to  the  waste  and  to  the  game  inhabiting  it. 

Contemporaneously  with  these  agrarian  changes  went  on  as  great  a 
judicial  change.  Among  the  Anglo-Saxons  jurisdiction  belonged  t<>  the 
state,  not  to  the  king.  Hut  jurisdiction  and  the  profits  of  jurisdiction 
were  separate.  While  justice  was  a  public  trust,  the  profits  of  justice  were 
merely  a  source  of  royal  revenue.  So  it  came  about,  as  early  as  the  ninth 
century,  that  the  tines  of  the  hundred  courts,  lines  for  which  every  offenco 
might  be  commuted,  were  often  granted  by  the  king  t"  any  neighboring 
magnate.  This  grant  of  profits  was  very  different  from  a  i^rant  id'  juris- 
diction. The  date  at  which  private  jurisdiction  originated  is  unknown. 
Tin;  earliest  grants  of  it  date  from  the  rei^n  of  Kdward  the  Confessor, 
but  private  courts  existed  before  his  time.  Though  he  and  his  Norman 
advisers  were  the  lir-t  to  regard  jurisdiction  as  royal  property,  to  bo 
granted  away,  a  revolution  had  already  taken  place  in  the  customs  of  the 
people,  who  had  abandoned  the  ancient  judicial  system,  for  the  loose 
administration  of  the  popular  courts  no  longer  satisfied  the  needs  of  an 
advancing  civilization. 

So  clumsy  and  slow  was  the  machinery  of  the  hundred  court  that  suits 

were  al st  always  compromised.     A  favorite  method  of  settlement  was 

arbitration.  The  most  natural  arbitrator  between  tenants  was  the  lord, 
and  only  a  contract  between  the  parties  was  needed  to  give  him  the  powers 
of  the  hundred  court.  While  the  lord's  decision  was  binding  in  law 
< > i ■  1 V  as  the  result  of  a  contract,  yet  his  private  authority  anions  his 
tenants  was  e;r,.at  enough  to  enforce  the  settlement.  Here,  then,  seems 
to  he  an  origin,  and  a  Saxon  origin,  f.fr  the  jurisdiction  of  a  manorial 
lold. 


18  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

Some  of  the  feudal  incidents  of  the  manorial  tenure  may  be 
found  mentioned  in  the  records  of  the  Maryland  Land  Office. 
Here  is  an  example  quoted  in  the  Land-holder's  Assistant:* 
"Whereas  certain  lands  and  tenements  holding  of  the  manors 
hereunder  named  have  ceased  for  these  three  years  last  past  to 
pay  the  rent  due.  .  .  .  These  are  therefore  to  summon  the  said 
several  tenants  to  pay  the  said  rent  and  arrears  and  charges  of 
this  process  unto  the  lord  of  the  manor  ....  or  else  to  be  at 
the  court  ....  to  show  cause  why  the  said  land  should  not 

So  much  for  the  origin  of  private  jurisdiction  in  general.  An  expla- 
nation of  the  specific  origin  of  the  three  courts,  the  leet,  the  common 
law  court  baron  and  the  customary  court  baron,  brings  us  to  a  contro- 
versy. Professor  Stubbs,  on  the  authority  of  Ordericus,  derives  the  courts 
of  the  manor  from  the  tun-gemot.  (Hist.  I.,  p.  399.)  Henry  Adams 
denies  the  existence  of  the  tun-gemot  (Essays  in  A.  S.  Law,  p.  22),  and 
derives  both  the  court  baron  and  the  court  leet  from  the  hundred  court. 
As  to  the  customary  court  he  is  silent.  Professor  W.  F.  Allen  has  still  a 
third  view,  the  court  baron,  according  to  him,  being  of  feudal  origin,  and 
not  being  found  earlier  than  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century.  He  makes 
the  non-existent  tun-gemot  of  Professor  Adams  the  germ  of  the  customary 
court.  All  these  views  are  so  ably  supported  that  it  would  be  highly 
desirable  to  reconcile  them,  though  it  is  probably  impossible. 

Adams  appears  to  have  proved  that  all  manorial  jurisdiction  was  orig- 
inally obtained  by  the  lords'  assuming  the  powers  of  the  hundred  court. 
This  may  have  been  done  by  prescription,  the  tenants  agreeing,  or  per- 
haps by  actual  royal  grant  of  jurisdiction  following  on  grants  of  profits. 

But  Allen's  conclusions  have  a  direct  bearing  here.  He  maintains, 
with  great  force,  that  the  freeholders,  the  suitors  and  judges  of  the  court 
baron,  took  their  rise  in  the  feudal  period.  No  freeholders,  in  our  sense, 
are  to  be  found,  he  says,  earlier  than  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century.  He 
thinks  that  in  the  interval  between  Domesday  and  this  period,  certain  of 
the  members  of  the  class  of  villeins  were  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  free- 
holders, while  all  the  other  original  holders  lost  their  earlier  rights  and 
fell  into  copyhold  tenure.  The  court  baron  was  established  on  a  French 
model  for  the  use  of  these  promoted  tenants.  The  Saxon  manorial  court, 
which  Allen  derives  from  the  court  of  the  township,  and  Adams  from  the 
hundred  court,  became  the  customary  court  of  the  copyholders.  As  they 
had  fallen  in  status,  so  did  it,  and  all  important  business  of  the  estate  was 
transacted  in  the  court  baron  or  the  court  leet.  (See  Allen's  Origin  of 
Freeholders  in  Proceedings  of  the  Wisconsin  Academy.) 

*  Kilty,  p.  103. 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  lij 

e.«cheat  to  tlie  Lord  of  the  Manor.  ...  In  the  Manor  of  St. 
Michaels:  One  tenement  of  100  acres  ....  yearly  rent  2 
barrels  of  corn  and  2  capons  —  arrear,  '■)  years.  .  .  ."  In 
the  manors  of  St.  Gabriel  and  Trinity  like  claims  were  made. 
These  are  apparently  the  only  instances  on  record  of  claims 
to  escheats  by  manor  lords.  "At  a  court  held  at  St.  Mairies, 
7th  December,  1  (348,  came  Mrs.  Margaret  Brent  and  required 
the  opinion  of  the  court  concerning  .  .  .  the  tenements  apper- 
taining to  the  rebels  within  his  Manors,  whether  or  no  their 
forfeitures  belonged  to  the  Lord  of  the  Manors.  The  resolu- 
tion of  the  court  was  that  the  said  forfeitures  did  of  right 
belong  to  the  Lord  of  the  Manors  by  virtue  of  his  Lordship's 
Conditions  of  Plantation.  .  .  ."  *  While  this  interests  us  as 
the  record  of  a  feudal  forfeiture  in  Maryland,  it  has  an  added 
attraction,  due  to  the  fact  that  this  is  probably  the  first  mention 
of  a  female  attorney.  Another  fact  showing  how  the  manorial 
tenure  entered  into  the  life  of  the  people,  is  a  decision  of  the 
Maryland  Court  of  Appeals,  made  as  late  as  1835.  In  this 
casef  it  was  held  that  a  tenant  on  a  manor  was  entitled  on 
giving  up  his  lease  to  the  benefit  of  those  manorial  customs 
that  were  commonly  recognized  as  good  by  the  tenants,  and 
that  had  been  observed  by  the  tenants  during  an  indefinite 
time. 

The  manorial  grants  were  originally  used  to  promote  emi- 
gration to  the  colony.  To  this  purpose  was  soon  added 
another,  namely,  that  of  military  defence.  Jt  seems  to  have 
been  the  desire  of  the  Proprietor  to  introduce  a  body  of  culti- 
vators that  could  at  any  time  be  turned  into  militia.  Accord- 
ingly, in  1(541,  he  issued  the  following  "Conditions  of  Plan- 
tion:"  "  Whatsoever  person  ....  shall  be  at  the  charge  to 
transport  into  the  Province  ....  any  number  of  able  men 
.  .  .  .  provided  and  furnished  with  arms  and  ammunition 
according   to  a  particular  hereunder   exprest  .  .  .  ,  shall    be 

*  Quoted  by  Kilty,  p.  104. 

•j- Dor  soy  vs.  Kuglo,  7  Gill  and  Johnson,  321. 


20  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

granted  unto  every  such  adventurer  for  every  twenty  persons 
lie  shall  so  transport  ....  two  thousand  acres  ....  which 
said  land  shall  he  erected  into  a  Mannor  ....  with  all  such 
Royalties  and  Privileges  as  are  usually  belonging  to  Mannors 
in  England.  .  .  . 

"A  particular  of  such  arms  and  ammunition  ....  for 
every  man  ....  which  shall  be  transported  thither. 

"Imprimis — One  Musket  or  Bastard-Musket  with  a  snap- 
hance  Lock. 

"  Item — Ten  pound  of  Powder. 

"Item — Fourty  pound  of  lead — Bulletts,  Pistoll  and  Goose 
Shot,  each  sort  some. 

"Kern — One  Sword-and  Belt. 

"Item — One  Bandelier  and  Flask." 

Such  legislation  bears  an  analogy  to  the  Assize  of  Arms, 
under  Henry  I.,  and  to  parts  of  the  Statute  of  Winchester, 
under  Edward  I.  The  idea  of  military  defence  by  the  mass 
of  the  people  is  common  to  these  instances  of  English  legis- 
lation of  the  middle  ages,  and  to  this  regulation  of  the  Mary- 
aud  Proprietary  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

In  addition  to  these  grants  to  private  persons,  manors 
were  given  to  the  Church.  Newtown  Manor,  formerly  an 
estate  of  the  Proprietary,  is  to  this  day  in  the  hands  of  the 
Jesuits.  In  Charles  and  St.  Mary's  counties,  large  estates, 
still  bearing  the  title  of  manors,  are  at  present  owned  by  that 
society.  All  efforts  have  been  unavailing  to  obtain  access  to 
any  documents  relating  to  these  lands.  If  search  were  per- 
mitted in  the  archives  of  the  order,  much  interesting  material 
might  be  discovered. 

It  should  not  be  thought  that  the  aristocratic  character  of 
the  manor  was  injurious  to  the  growth  of  liberal  ideas.  The 
manor  was  a  self-governing  community.  The  manor  officers 
were  elected  by  the  tenants,  and  juries  were  drawn  from 
among  the  same  body.  By-laws  for  their  own  government 
were  adopted  by  most  voices.  So  there  was  ample  scope  for 
individuality  to  show  itself.     The  extinction  of  the  manorial 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  21 

system  was  probably  not  due  to  any  democratic  feeling  of 
opposition  to  it  as  a  relic  of  feudalism,  but  to  another  cause. 
The  early  introduction  of  slavery  must  soon  have  made  it 
more  profitable  for  the  lord  to  cultivate  all  his  estate  than  to 
rent  it  to  tenants,  unless  the  estate  were  of  immense  size. 
The  very  large  estates,  however,  were  quickly  sub-divided 
when  population  increased.  Consequently,  the  relations  which 
made  a  manor  possible  soon  ceased  to  exist.  At  the  same 
time  the  necessity  for  a  system  of  private  jurisdiction  passed 
away.  The  manorial  courts  were  adapted  to  a  state  of  society 
in  which  law-abiding  men  lived  far  apart,  and  surrounded  bv 
unquiet  neighbors;  a  society  in  which  bloodshed  was  fre- 
quent and  property  insecure.  In  such  circumstances  it  was 
needful  to  have  in  each  community  a  person  uniting  in  him- 
self the  influence  of  wealth  and  the  majesty  of  law.  When 
higher  civilization  made  violence  rare,  and  when  better  means 
of  communication  made  it  easy  to  reach  the  public  courts, 
private  authority  was  no  longer  needed.  The  feudal  society 
of  the  manor  reverted  to  the  patriarchal  society  of  the  plan- 
tation. Serfs  or  slaves  now  replaced  the  free  tenants  of 
former  times.  The  rights  of  these  villeins  en  r/ros  were 
entirely  at  the  will  of  the  owner  of  the  estate.  Controversies 
between  them  never  reached  the  dignity  of  legal  adjudication. 
Between  them  and  their  owners  controversy  was  in  the  nature 
of  things  impossible.  Here  there  was  no  scope  for  manorial 
courts.  Controversies  between  master  and  master  went,  as 
before,  to  a  public  tribunal.  The  court  baron  and  the  court 
leet,  having  served  their  turn,  were  cast  aside.  J  f  they  played 
no  great  part  in  the  history  of  the  State,  they  are  interesting 
as  an  extinct  species,  an  institutional  fossil,  connecting  the  life 
of  the  present  with  the  life  of  the  past. 


EDITORIAL  NOTES. 


The  historical  significance  of  the  St.  Clement  records  is  that  they  prove 
incontestably  the  existence  of  a  Court  Leet  in  Maryland.  These  Records 
are  the  first  of  their  kind  that  have  been  utilized  by  students  of  Mary- 
land History.  McMahon  does  not  appear  to  have  noticed  any  such  Records. 
Bozman,  in  his  History  of  Maryland,  vol.  ii.  39,  says,  "  although  the  power 
and  right  of  holding  courts-baron  and  courts-leet  might  have  been  inserted 
in  some  or  all  of  those  grants  of  manors,  yet  we  are  told  from  good  authority, 
that  no  memorial  appears  on  the  records  of  the  province,  of  any  practical 
use  of  either  of  those  kinds  of  courts."  Soharf,  i.  12:!,  quotes  this  passage 
as  final.*  The  '-good  authority"  upon  whom  Bozman  relied  was  Kilty, 
who,  in  his  Land-Holder's  Assistant,  93,  says,  "  no  memorial  appears  on 
record  "  of  the  practical  use  of  the  privileges  of  Court  Baron  and  Court 
Leet  in  those  "inferior  Manors  "  erected  by  the  Conditions  of  Plantation, 
issued  in  1630.  But  Kilty,  as  quoted  by  Bozman  in  the  above  passage, 
was  not  speaking  of  all  manors,  but  only  of  those  which  assumed  the  name. 
Upon  the  very  same  page,  93,  Kilty  states  that  in  some  manors,  namely, 
in  those  erected  by  special  order  of  the  Proprietary,  "ami  more  especially 
in  those  held  by  the  Proprietary  in  his  own  name,  it  is  understood  that 
the  privileges  attached  to  them  were  actually  exercised.''  But  even  Kilty 
mentions  no  concrete  examples  or  existing  records,  of  a  Court  Baron  and 
a  Court   Lett. 

Bozman,  however,  after  having  unfortunately  quoted  Kilty  in  such  a 
partial  way  as  to  lead  to  the  now  current  notion  that  there  never  was 
any  case  of  Court  Leet  in  Maryland,  appears  to  have  come  upon  certain 
indications  of  the  existence  of  such  an  institution.  He  says  in  a  foot  mite 
to  page  39,  "  But  1  find  in  the  Council  Proceedings  from  l(>3f>  to  lt;."i7,  p. 
2:'.,  a  commission  there  recorded,  for  holding  a  court-leet  in  the  isle  of 
Kent  directed  'to  Robert  Philpot,  William  Cox,  Thomas  Allen,  of  the 
isle  of  Kent,  gentlemen,  to  be  justices  of  the  peace  within  the  said  island, 
to  hold  a  court-leet  in  all  civil  actions  not  exceeding  1200  lbs.  tobacco; 
and  to  hear  and  determine  all  offences  criminal,  within  the  said  Maud, 
which  may  be  determined  by  any  justice  of  the  peace  in  Kngland,  not 
extending  to  the  loss  of  life  or  member.  Given  at  St.  Mary's,  February 
9th,  Ib37.  Witness,  Leonard  Calvert.'  A-  proceedings,''  continues 
Bozman,  ''  most  probably  took  [dace  under  this  <-ommi>.-ion,  there  mu-t, 
of  consequence,  have   been  some   written    memorials  of  those   proceedings 


► 'I'Ih' existence  of  manorial  curt'*  in   Maryland   is,  huwuvi-r,  rccuguuetl   |.\  Scliurf  in 
a  later  volume,  ii,  50. 

23 


24  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

onco  existing,  though  probably  now  lost.  As  the  business  of  Courts-lect 
in  England  has  long  ago  been  gradually  absorbed  by  the  courts  of  quarter 
sessions  for  the  shire  or  county,  so  with  us,  it  is  probable,  that  if  any  courts- 
leet  or  courts-baron  were  ever  held  in  the  province,  the  county-courts, 
at  a  very  early  period,  swallowed  up  their  jurisdictions.  To  trace  these 
transfers  of  judicial  power,  would  at  this  day  be  unneccessary,  if  it  were 
a  possible  task,  except  it  be  to  throw  some  light  on  the  history  of  those 
times." 

If  a  Court  Leet  was  actually  instituted  upon  Kent  Island,  then  it  was 
probably  one  of  the  oldest  authorized  local  courts  in  Maryland,  for  the 
first  county  court  in  this  province  was  not  opened  until  about  the 
middle  of  February,  1638,  judicial  power  having  been  hitherto  retained 
by  the  governor  and  his  council  and  the  General  Assembly  of  Freemen, 
or  the  Colonial  Parliament.  Authority,  however,  to  hold  a  local  court 
in  Kent  Island  had  been  granted  to  Captain  George  Evelyn  on  the  30th 
of  December,  1037.  He  was  authorized  "to  elect  and  choose  six  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Kent  for  his  council," — a  local  court  of  seven  men. 
Bozman  states  in  his  Notes  and  Illustrations,  580,  that  the  Court  Leet, 
that  was  authorized  the  following  year  but  soon  superceded  by  the  "  Com- 
rminder"  [High  Constable,  cf.  Bozman,  ii,  138]  of  Kent,  was  more  like  a 
county  court  than  a  manorial  court.  "The  court  held  under  the  commis- 
sion before  stated  [Bozman,  ii,  39]  Ho  certain  justices  of  the  peace  on  the 
isle  of  Kent  to  hold  a  court  leet '  there,  seems  to  have  partaken  more  of  the 
nature  of  what  was  subsequently  called  a  county  court,  than  a  court 
pertaining  to  a  manor  ;  and  '  the  manor  of  Kent  fort,'  the  only  manor  ever 
erected  on  the  isle  of  Kent,  was  not  then  granted."  The  conclusion,  then, 
is  by  Bozman,  as  regards  the  Kent  Island  case,  that  it  was  no  Court  Leet 
at  all,  in  the  technical  sense  of  the  term. 

But  Bozman  thereupon,  in  his  Notes  and  Illustrations,  ii.  581,  begins 
to  approach  the  real  truth  touching  the  actual  existence  of  manorial  courts, 
a  truth  which  Mr.  John  Johnson  has  only  elucidated  in  its  fulness  in  the 
foregoing  monograph.  "However,  it  does  appear,"  says  Mr.  Bozman, 
"  that  at  subsequent  periods  of  time,  one  or  two  rare  instances  occurred  of 
the  holding  both  courts  baron  and  courts  leet  in  two  distinct  manors. 
4  A  court  baron  was  held  at  the  manor  of  St.  Gabriel,  on  the  7th  of  March, 
1650,  by  the  steward  of  the  lady  of  the  manor,  when  one  Martin  Kirke 
took  of  the  lady  of  the  manor  in  full  court,  by  delivery  of  the  said  steward, 
by  the  rod,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  said  manor,  one  messuage,  having 
done  fealty  to  the  lady,  was  thereby  admitted  tenant '  (MS.  Extracts  from 
therecords).  "This,"  continues  Bozman,  "seems  to  have  been  conformable 
to  the  ancient  practice  of  courts  baron  in  England,  on  the  admission  of 
any  tenant  of  a  manor.  The  steward  thereof,  taking  hold  of  one  end  of  a 
rod  and  the  tenant  of  the  other,  the  former  repeats  to  him  :  '  The  lord  of 
of  this  manor  by  me  his  steward  doth  deliver  you  seisin  by  the  rod,  and 
admit  you  tenant  to  the  premises,'  &c.     (See  the  Practice  of  Courts  Leet 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  25 

and  Courts  Baron,  by  Chief  Justice  Scroggs)."  Here,  then,  is  instanced  by 
Bozman  himself  a  concrete  case  of  a  manorial  court,  the  records  of  which 
Mr.  Bozman  appears  to  have  seen. 

But  now  follows  mention  of  a  Court  Leet  upon  the  identical  manor,  the 
records  of  which  Mr.  Bozman  had  not  seen  but  which  arc  now  first  pub- 
lished. Bozman  came  upon  the  traces  of  manorial  courts  at  St.  Clement's, 
not  from  local  records,  but  from  public  records.  lie  says,  ii,  581  :  "  Also, 
in  October,  1661, Thomas  Gerrard  petitioned  to  the  provincial  court,  stating, 
that  at  a  court  leet  and  court  baron,  held  for  the  manor  of  St.  Clement's,  on 
the  27th  of  October,  1(159,  Robert  Cole  was  fined,  for  marking  one  of  the 
Lord  of  the  manor's  hogs,  and  prayed  to  have  satisfaction  for  the  unlawful 
marking  and  killing  such  hog,  as  the  laws  of  the  province  provided.'*  The 
grant  of  this  manor,  which  lay  in  St.  Mary's  county,  was  made  to  Thomas 
Gerrard  in  the  year  1639,  and  appears  to  be  one  of  the  oldest  grants  of  a 
manor  now  extant  on  the  records  of  the  province.  It  contained  a  clause 
of  power  to  Thomas  Gerrard  to  hold  a  court  baron  and  court  leet.  The 
last  mentioned  case,  which  occurred  in  this  manor,  seems  to  have  been  ono 
of  those  petty  misdemeanors,  which  would  have  been  properly  cognizable 
by  a  court  leet  in  England  ;  but,  as  the  lord  of  a  manor  could  not  judge 
in  his  own  case,  for  a  trespass  to  himself,  (See  2  Bacon's  Abridgement, 
505,)  this  principle  probably  occasions  his  application,  as  above,  to  the 
provincial  court." 

The  local  Becords  of  the  Manor  of  St.  Clement's,  herewith  published, 
indicate  that  a  Court  Leet  was  there  held  for  at  least  a  considerable  period, 
namely  from  1659  to  1672.  The  Records  are  defective  and  may  originally 
have  covered  a  much  longer  time.  The  manuscript  is  well  preserved, 
what  there  is  of  it,  and  is  written  in  the  quaint  old  English  hand,  char- 
acteristic of  English  clerks  of  the  seventeenth  century  wherever  found, 
whether  among  the  Pilgrim  Fathersor  among  the  Pilgrimsof  St.  Mary's. 
The  manuscript  was  presented  to  the  Maryland  Historical  Society  many 
years  ago  by  a  Catholic  gentleman,  Colonel  B.  U.  Campbell,  who  died 
April  28,  1855,  aged  sixty,  and  who  was  buried  with  great  honors,  after 
a  celebration  of  High  Mass  in  the  Cathedral,  in  the  presence  of  the  Arch- 
bishop and  ''all  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  "  (See  contemporary  newspaper 
accounts,  e.  g.  The.  American,  May  1,  1855)  Colonel  Campbell  was  u 
partner  in  the  Baltimore  branch  of  the  well  known  English  bankers, 
Brown  and  Company  of  London,  and  he  is  spoken  of  in  the  resolutions  of 
the  Maryland  Historical  Society,  Mny  3,  1855,  as  "one  of  its  earliest  and 
most  valuable  members. "  The  manuscript  Records  of  the  Catholic  Manor 
of  St.  Clement's,  presented  to  the  Society  by  Colonel  Campbell,  together 
with  other  documents  relating  to  the  History  of  Maryland,  is  preserved 
in  Portfolio  No.  6,  Document  I,  and  is  described  in  the  Catalogue  of  the 
Manuscripts  of   the    Society,  printed    in    1854.  under   the  supervision   of 

*  The  above  is  not  the  exact  text  of  Gemini's  petition,  but  conveys  its  substance.   11.  Ii.  A. 


26  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

Lewis  Mayer,  Esq.,  assistant  librarian,  as  "Manuscript  Records  of  Courts 
Baron  and  Courts  Leet,  held  in  St.  Clement's  Manor,  at  several  times, 
from  1659  to  1672,  folio."  Mr.  Gatchell,  the  present  assistant  librarian 
of  the  Society,  has  put  the  Editor  in  possession  of  these  facts  touching  the 
original  records  of  St.  Clement's  and  concerning  Mr.  B.  U.  Campbell, 
who  presented  them  to  the  Society. 

The  existence  of  these  Records  was,  in  fact,  well  known  to  gentlemen 
who  are  familiar  with  the  library  resources  of  the  Maryland  Historical 
Society,  but  Mr.  Johnson  is  the  first  to  make  known  tho  historical  signifi- 
cance of  Court  Leet  in  Maryland.  Not  until  his  inquiries  touching  tho 
origin  and  character  of  Old  Maryland  Manors  were  well  advanced  did  he 
obtain  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  these  Records.  His  inquiries  of  Mr. 
George  Johnston,  author  of  the  History  of  Cecil  County,  as  to  the  possible 
survival  of  the  old  English  Court  Leet  upon  Maryland  Manors  led  that 
gentleman  to  a  conference  with  Mr.  J.  W.  M.  Lee,  librarian  of  the  Mary- 
land Historical  Society  and  to  the  examination  of  the  long  catalogued  but 
never  utilized  Records  of  the  Manor  of  St.  Clement's.  Mr.  Lee  kindly 
undertook  the  task  of  making  an  exact  transcript  of  the  Records  and  thanks 
are  due  to  him  for  supervising  their  accurate  reproduction  by  the  printer. 

The  survival  upon  one  of  the  Maryland  Manors,  of  a  Court  Leet  (Ger- 
man Leute,  people),  or  thatold  English  popular  court  of  manorial  tenants, 
is  interesting  and  important  as  showing  the  continuity  in  Terra  Marine 
of  that  ancient  Germanic  institution  of  village  folcmote,  which  has  evolved 
into  modern  Parish  and  Vestry-Meetings,  and  also  into  Town-Meetings 
and  City  Councils. 

The  Editor  of  this  series  takes  great  pleasure  in  publishing  the  following 
note  touching  Cooke's  Hope  Manor  in  Talbot  County,  communicated  by 
the  eminent  antiquary  and  local  historian,  Dr.  Samuel  A.  Harrison,  of 
Easton,  Maryland.  "A  Manor  of  one  thousand  acres  granted  to  Miles 
Cooke  by  patent  dated  Jan  17th  1659,  under  the  great  seal  of  Caecilius, 
Lord  Baltimore,  lying  north  of  Great  Choptank  river,  on  the  north  side 
of  the  east  branch  of  a  creek  of  the  said  river  called  Tredavon.  This 
manor  is  mentioned  in  a  deed  from  Mr.  Saml.  Cooke,  through  his 
attorneys,  to  Mr.  John  Edmondson,  dated  Apr.  17th  1683.  The  following 
is  an  extract  from  this  deed  of  the  attorneys  of  S.  C.  to  J.  E.  recorded  in 
Liber  No.  4,  p.  195,  of  the  Land  Records  of  Talbot  County,  Maryland. 

"...  Containing  and  Laid  out  for  One  thousand  Acres  (more  or  less) 
together  with  all  Royalties  &  Priviledges  (Royal  mines  excepted)  most 
usually  belonging  to  Mannors  in  Enghtnd,  to  have  and  to  hold  ye  same 
unto  him  ye  sd  Miles  Cooke  his  heirs  and  assigns  for  ever  to  be  holden  as 
of  ye  Honour  [?]  of  St.  Marey's  in  free  and  Comon  Soccage  by  fealty 
only  for  all  services  under  ye  yearly  rent  of  Twentie  [?  Seventie]  Shill- 
ings Sterling  in  silver  or  Gold  or  ye  full  value  thereof  in  such  comodaties 
as  ye  sd  Lord  Proprietary  or  his  heirs  should  accept  thereof,  and  ye  sd  Lord 
Proprietary  did  by  his  Letters  Pattent  Erect  ye  sd  Thousand  Acres  into  a 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  27 

Mannorby  ye  name  of  yc  Mannor  of  Cookes  Hope  Together  with  Court 
Baron  and  all  things  thereunto  Belonging  by  ye  Law  or  Custome  of 
England,  as  by  ye  sd  Letters  Pattents  Relation  thereunto  had  doth  and 
may  more  at  large  appearc." 

The  following  note  upon  manorial  Tithingman  in  Maryland  is  thought 
by  the  Editor  to  be  of  sufficient  interest  to  justify  it-  reprint  from  Bozman, 
ii,  1:18,  who  quotes  it  from  the  manuscript  Bill  of  1638,  folio  21.  The 
motto  relating  to  Tithingmen,  printed  upon  the  reverse  of  the  bastard-title 
of  this  paper,  was  taken  from  Bacon's  printed  Laws  of  Maryland,  which 
only  gives  the  heading  of  the  Bill.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the 
text :  "  The  lord  of  every  manor  within  this  province,  (after  any  manor 
shall  be  erected),  shall  yearly  at  the  first  court  baron  held  after  M  ichaelmas 
in  any  year  nominate  and  appoint  some  inhabitant  of  the  manor,  (not 
being  in  the  council),  to  be  tithing-man  of  that  manor,  to  have  the  same 
power  as  a  tithing-man  in  England."  Bozman  adds,  "The  duties  of  a 
tithing-man  in  England  were,  at  this  time,  nearly  the  same  as  those  of  a 
petly  constable.  They  were  usually  chosen  by  the  jury  at  the  court-leet, — 
a  criminal  court  appertaining  to  a  manor." 


NOTE  ON  THOMAS  GERRARD 

LORD  OF  ST.  CLEMENT'S   MANOR. 


Thomas  Gerrard,  Surgeon,  was  a  brother-in-law  of  Marmnduke  Snow, 
and  came  into  the  province  about  the  year  1638.  On  the  29th  of  October, 
1G.'}9,  "  Thomas  Gorrard  Gent,  demandeth  Land  of  the  Lord  Proprietary 
due  him  by  conditions  of  Plantation  for  transporting;  himself  with  liveable 
men  servants  in  the  years  of  our  Lord  1(>'>8  and  l»i:!!»."  The  five  able 
men  servants  were  John  Longworth,  Peter  Hay  ward,  Samuel  Barrett, 
Thomas  Knight  and  Robert  Brassington.  The  following  day  (Oct.  30th) 
an  order  was  issued  to  the  Surveyor  to  lay  out  for  Mr.  Thomas  Gerrard, 
1000  acres  of  land  including  St.  Clement's  Island.  The  laud  was  surveyed 
Nov.  2,  and  the  Surveyor's  report  is  as  follows  :  "  Set  forth  for  Thomas 
Gerrard  Gent,  a  neck  of  land  lveing  over  against  St.  Clements  Island, 
bounding  on  the  South  with  Pot.owmack  River,  on  the  north  east  with  a 
Creek  running  westward  out  of  St.  Clement-;  Bay,  Called  St.  Patrick's 
Creek,  on  the  east  with  the  said  Clement's  bay,  on  the  northwest  with  a 
Creek  running  out  Mattapanient  bay  called  St.  Catherines  Creek  on  the 
west  and  south  west  with  part  of  the  said  Bay  and  Potowmack  River,  the 
said  neck  containing  in  the  whole  nine  hundred  and  fiftie  acres  or  thereabouts. 
Likewise  set  forth  for  the  said  Thomas  Gerrard,  the  Island  over  against 
the  said  neck  called  St.  Clements  Island,  and  Containing  four  score  acres 
or  thereabouts.  (Signed)  .John  Lewger  Surveyor." 

On  the  following  day  (Nov.  3),  a  patent  was  issued  to  Thomas  Gerrard 
of  the  above  tract,  constituting  it  a  Manor  by  the  name  of  St.  Clement's 
Manor,  and  giving  him,  his  heirs  and  assigns  authority  to  hold  Courts 
Baron  and  Courts  Leet  upon  the  said  Manor.  Tims.  Gerrard  was  com- 
missioned Privy  Councilor  September  18,  1644,  and  being  several  times 
reappointed,  held  this  position  until  1658.  He  himself  was  a  Roman 
Catholic,  but  his  wife,  Susan,  was  a  Protestant.  (See  trial  of  Fitzherbert, 
in  Davis'  Day  Star).  In  1642  he  was  accused  before  the  council  of  dis- 
turbing the  worship  of  the  Protestant  inhabitants  by  taking  away  the; 
Key  of  their  Chapel  and  carrying  away  their  books.  He  was  found  guilt  v 
and  sentenced  to  pay  a  line  500  pounds  of  tobacco.  He  was  .-till  alive  in 
1666,  and  had  children.  The  approximate  date  of  his  death  and  the  names 
of  his  children  could  be  learned  from  his  will  which  i?  no  doubt  on  record 
at  Annapolis. 

Christopher  Johnston,  Jk.,  M.  A.,  M.  D. 

29 


RECORDS* 

OF     THE 

COURT  LEET  AND  COURT  BARON 

op 

st.  Clement's  manor, 

1659-72. 


S!  Clkmknts  )    _    A   Co  irt  I>et  &  Court   Baron    of  Thomas   Gerard 

■  th 


Clkmknts  )        A 

>  ss 
Manour       >        Esq!  there  held  on  Thursday  the  xxvii1"  of  October 

1G59  by  Jn"  Ryves  gent  Steward  there. 


Constablk  :   Richard  (foster      Sworne. 

Rksiants:  Arthur  Delahay :  Robte:  Cooper:  Seth  Tinsley:  "Willm:  at 
Robte  Coles  :  J u7  Gee  Jn?  Green  Benjamin  Hamon  Jn"  Mattant. 

ffrkkhold"8  Robte  Sly,  gent:  Willm  :  Barton  c;ent:  Robt'Cole:  Luke: 
Gardiner:  Barthollomew:  Phillips  Christopher  Carnall :  Jn'!  Norman: 
Jn"  Goldsmith. 

Lkaseholdkrs  Thomas  Jackson :  Rowland  Mace:  Jn"  Shankes  Richard 
ffoster:  Samuell  Harris:  John  Mansell :  Edward  Turner:  ffrancis 
Sutton  with:  Jn"  Tennison  : 

Jury  am>  "l   Jn"  Mansell  ~|  Jn"  Tennison 

Homages   J    Burtholl:    Phillips  Jn"  Goldsmith   I 

.1  ii '•'  Shankes  „  Jn"  Mattant 

J.  Sworne  ,,  Sworne 

■I  n"  Goo  Sam  :    Harris 

Edward  Turner  Jn"  Norman 

Seth  Tinsley  J  xolVr  Carnall      J 


Mj  thank*  art:  due- to  the  Maryland  Historical  Society  for  |ii-niii»sloii  to  print  (hose 
records.  1  am  also  under  obligation  id  Mr.  .).  U  .  M.  }.■■■•,  I.il.rariau  i.f  the  Sx  lely,  ft-r 
kind  and  c  tin  iini  aid  in  dr<  ij>li«ri nir  and  transcribing  them  ;  ami  to  Mr.  tieo.  JuLusluu, 
ol  L'lWton,  for  calliug  ruv  attention  to  theuj  in  the  lir^t  instance.  -J.  J. 

31 


32  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

Ordt  Agt  Sam  :  Wee  the  aboue  named  Jurors  doe  p'sent  to  the  Cour  that 
Harris  wee  finde  how  about  the  3    day  of  oetobr  1659  that: 

Jmprimis  weep'sent  that  about  the  third  of  October  1659  that  Sam- 

uell  Harris  broke  the  peace  wth  a  Stick  and  that  there  was  bloudshed 

comitted  by  Samuell  Harris  on  the  body  of  John  Mansell  for  woh  hee  i9 

fined  401  tob  wch  is  remitted  de  gratia  dni. 

Wee  doe  find  that  Samuell  Harris  hath  a  licence  fro'  the  Gou'no*  & 

wee  conceive  him  not  fitt  to  bee  prsented. 

Ordr  aot  Rout*  Jtem  wee  prsent  Robert  Cole  for  marking  one  of  the 
Cole.  Lord  of  the  Manno"  hoggs  for  wc    hee  is  fined  2000 

Tohco      affered  to  10001. 

Jtem  wee  prsent  Luke  Gardyner  for  catching  two  wild  hoggs  &  not 
restouringe  the  one  halfe  to  the  Lord  of  the  Mannor  wCJhe  ought  to 
haue  done  &  for  his  contempt  therein  is  fined  20001  Tobco  afferred  to 
2001  of  Tobco. 

Jtem  we  prsent  that  Cove  Mace  about  Easter  last  1659  came  to  the 
house  of  John  Shancks  one  of  the  Lord  of  the  Manno™  tenants  being 
bloudy  &  said  that  Robin  Coox  &  his  wife  were  both  vpon  him  &  the 
said  John  Shancks  desired  John  Gee  to  goe  wth  him  to  Clove  Maces 
house  &  when  they  the  sd  John  Shancks  &  John  Gee  came  to  the  said 
Cloves  his  house  in  the  night  &  knocked  att  the  dore  asking  how  they 
did  what  they  roplyed  then  the  s'1  John  Shancks  &  John  Gee  haue  for- 
gotten But  the  s  John  Shancks  asked  h,er  to  come  to  her  husband  & 
shee  replyed  that  hee  had  abused  Robin  &  her  and  the  said  John  Shancks 
gott  her  consent  to  come  the  next  morning  &  Robin  vp  to  bee  freinds 
wth  her  husband  &  as  John  Shancks  taketh  shee  fell  downe  on  her  knees 
to  bee  freinds  wl  her  s  husband  but  hee  would  not  bee  freinds  wth  her 
but  the  next  night  following  they  were  freinds  and  Bartholomew  Phil- 
lipps  saith  that  shee  related  before  that  her  husband  threatened  to  beate 
her  &  said  if  hee  did  shee  would  cutt  his  throat  or  poyson  him  or  make 
him  away  &  said  if  ever  Jo:  Hart  should  come  in  agayne  shee  would 
gett  John  to  bee  revenged  on  him  &  beate  him  &  hee  heared  the  said 
William  Asiter  say  th'  shee  dranke  healths  to  the  Confusion  of  her 
husband  and  said  shee  would  shooe  her  horse  round  &  hee  the  said  Bar- 
tholomew Phillips  heard  the  said  Robin  say  if  ever  hee  left  the  house 
Cloves  should  never  goe  wl  a  whole  face.  Jt  is  ordered  that  this  busi- 
nesse  bee  transferred  to  the  next  County  CoM  according  to  Law. 

Also  wee  present  John  Mansell  fore  entertayning  Beniamyn  Hamon 
&  Cybill  his  wife  as  Jnmates  Jt  is  therefore  ordered  that  the  sd  Man- 
sell  doe  either  remove  his  Jnmate  or  give  security  to  save  the  pish 
[parish]  harmlesse  by  the  next  Cort  vnder  payne  of  10001  Tobcor. 

Also  wee  prsent  Samuell  Harris  for  the  same  and  the  same  order  is 
on  him  that  is  on  John  Mansell. 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  33 

Also  wee  present  the  Freeholders  that  have  made  default  in  their 
appearing  to  forfeit  1001  Tobco  apeice. 

Wee  doe  further  prsent  that  our  Bounds  are  at  this  p'esent  unpfect 
&  very  obscure.  Wherefore  w'  the  consent  of  the  Lord  of  the 
Manno*  Wee  doe  order  that  every  mans  land  shall  bee  bounded  marked 
and  layed  out  betweene  this  &  the  next  Cort  by  the  p'sent  Jury  wth  the 
assistance  of  the  Lord  vpon  payne  of  200  Tob'coe  for  every  man  that 
shall  make  default. 

ST.  Clkmknts  \  88t  At  a  Court  Leot  &  Cor    Baron  of  ThOms  Gerard 
Masno"       '  Esqr  there  held  on  thursday  the  26th  of  Aprill  16G0 

by  John  Ryves  Steward  there 

Constable   Richard  fibster 

Resiants   Robert  Cowx  William  Roswell  John  Gee  John  Greene  Benia- 
min  Uamon 

Freeholders:    Robert  Sly  gent  Will'm  Barton  gent  Robt  Cole  Luke 
Gardiner  Christopher  Carnall  John  Norman  John  Goldsmith. 

Leaseholders   Thorn's  Jackson  Richard  fibster  Samuell  Norris   John 
Mansfeild  Edward  Turner  John  Shancks  Arthur  Delahay 
Clove  Mace  John  Tennison 

Jury  and  "I    Christopher  Carnall  ~)       Richard  Smith    ^ 
Homage    /  John  Tennison 


John  Gee 
Edward  Turner 
Beniamvn  llamon 


John  Norman 
John  Love 
George  Harris 
Willm  Roswell 


r 


John  Greene  J       Walter  Bartlett  J 

Wee  the  above  named  Jurors  doe  prsent  to  the  Con  Luke  Gardiner 
for  not  doeing  his  Fealty  to  the  Lord  of  the  Mannor  Jt  is  ordered 
therefore  that  hee  is  fined  10001  of  Tobcoo 

Wee  p'sent  fower  Jndians  viz 

for  breakinge  into  the  Lord  of  the  Manm"  orchard  whereof  three  of 
them  were  taken  <te  one  ran  away  &  they  are  fyned  '20  arms  length  of 
Roneoke. 

Wee  p'sent  also  two  Jndian  boyes  for  being  taken  w  '  hoggs  flesh  & 
running  away  fro'  it  &  they  are  fined  40  arms  length. 

Wee  )irsent  also  a  Cheptico  Jndian  for  entringe  into  Edward  Turners 
house  «fe  stealinge  a  shirt  fro'  thence  &  hee  is  lined  20  arms  length  if  he 
can  be  knowne 

Wee  pT8ent  also  Wickocomacoe  Jndians  for  takeinge  away  Christo- 
pher Carnalls  Cannowe  fro'  his  landing  &  they  are  fyned  20  arms 
length  if  they  bee  found 

5 


34 


Old  Maryland  Manors. 


Wee  p'sont  also  the  King  of  Cheptico  for  killing  a  wild  sow  &  took 
her  piggs  &  raysed  a  stock  of  them  referred  to  the  ho  e  the  Gouno  . 

Wee  concieve  that  Jndians  ought  not  to  keepe  hoggs  for  vnder 
p'tence  of  them  they  may  destroy  all  the  hoggs  belonginge  to  the  Man- 
no'  &  therefore  they  ought  to  bee  warned  now  to  destroy  them  else  to 
bee  fyned  att  the  next  Court     Referred  to  the  hOble  the  Gou'no* 

Wee  reduce  Luke  Gardiners  fyne  to  501  of  Tobcoe 

We  am'ce  the  fower  Jndians  to  50  arms  Length  of  Roneoke  &  the 
Jndian  that  had  his  gun  taken  fro'  him  to  bee  restored  agayne  to  the 
owner  thereof 

The  Jndian  boyes  wee  am'ce  40  arms  Length  of  Roneoke  as  they  are 
above  am'ced 

Wee  am'ce  the  Cheptico  Jndian  for  stealing  Edward  Turners  shirt 
to  20  arms  length  of  Roneoke 

Wee  am'ce  also  Wickocomacoe  Jndians  for  takeinge  away  Christo- 
pher Carnalls  Cannowe  to  20  arms  Length  of  Roneoke 

Memorand  that  John  Mansfeild  sonne  of Mansfeild  deceased 

came  into  this  Co did  atturne  tent  to  the  Lord  of  this  Mannor 


ST  Clements  ")  A  Court  Leet  &  Court  Baron  of  Thomas  Gerrard  esquire 
Manno8  /  there  held  on  Wednesday  the  Three  &  Twentieth  of 
October  1661.  by  Thomas  Mannyng  Gent  Steward  there  for  this  tyme 

Bailiff  William  Barton  Gent. 

Constable  Raphael  Haywood  Gent 

Resiants  Mr  Edmond  Hanson  George  Bankes  ffrancis  Bellowes  Tho : 
James  John  Gee  Michael  Abbott. 

ffrekholders  Robt  Sly  Gent  Will  Barton  Gent  Luke  Gardiner  Gent, 
absent  Robt.  Cole  Gent.  Raphael  Haywood  Gent  Bartho  Phillips  Gent. 


Jury        Rich :  ffoster 

Edward  Conoray 
Edward  Runsdall 
John  Shankes 
John  Knape 
Gerett  Brenson 
Clove  Mace 
Robt  Cooper 
Arthur  De  La  huy 
John  Tenison 


Jury  and 
Homage 


Robt  Cole 
Bartho  Philips 
Edward  Conovay 
Edward  Ransdell 
Gerett  Brenton 
Clobe  Mace 
Edmond  Hanson 
Robt  Cooper 
Arthur  De  La  hay 
Wm  Rosewell 
Tho:  James 
Mich.  James. 


[Several  leaves  of  the  record  missing.] 


Old  Maryland  Ifanors.  35 

The  Court  adiorned  till  two  of  the  Clocke  in  the  afternoono. 

John  Gee  and  Rich,  foster  sworne 

The  Jury  presents  that  Bartho:  Phillips  his  Landes  not  marked  and 
Bounded  Hound 

The  Jury  Lykewise  present  that  the  Land  belonging  to  Robt  Cooper 
and  Gerett  Breden  is  not  marked  and  bounded  Round 

The  Jury  Presents  Robt  Cooper  for  Cutting  of  sedge  on  S*  Clements 
Jsland  and  fowling  wthout  Licence  for  \v°  he  is  Amerced  10  of  Tob. 
A  tiered  to  101  of  Tob. 

The  Jury  Present  that  Edward  Conoray  while  ho  was  Rich  fosters 
servant  did  by  accident  worray  or  Lugg  wtl  doggs  on  of  the  Ld  of  the 
manno™  Hoggs  and  at  another  tyme  Edward  Conoray  going  to  shoot 
at  ducks  the  dog  did  Run  at  somebodys  Hoggs  but  we  know  not  whose 
they  were  and  did  Lugg  them  for  wcl  the  Jury  doe  Amerce  Rich: 
lloster  60l  of  Tob     Aflered  to  201  of  Tob. 

The  Jury  presents  Mr  Luke  Gardiner  for  not  appearing  at  the  Lords 
Court  Leet  if  he  had  sufficient  warning 

ST  Clemknts"!  A  Court  Leet  of  Thomas  Gerard  Esqr.  there  held  on 

Mano"        /         Thursday  the    eighth    day   of   September    1070.    by 
James  Gaylard  gent,  steward  there. 

Essoixks:  Benjamin  Salley  gent  James  Edmonds  Rich  Vpgato  Cap' 
Peter  Lefebur  these  are  essoined  by  reason  they  are  sick  and  cannot 
attend  to  do  their  suit. 

FKkkkhoi.dkks:  Justinian  Gerard  gent,  Robt0  Sly  gent,  Thorn  Notley 
gent,  Capt  Luke  Gardiner,  Benjamin  Bailey  gent,  Robert  Cole,  Bar- 
tholomew Phillipps,  Jn0.  Bullock  W™  Watts,  James  Edmonds,  Richard 
Vpgate,  Simon  Rider,  Jn'-  Tenison,  Rich11-  llbster,  Edward  Connory, 
J  no"  Shankes,  Jn"-  Blackiston, 

Lkas.kiioi.dkks:  Robte  Cowper  Capt  Peter  Lefebur,  Henry  Shadock, 
Rich'-  Saunderson  Jn"  Hoskins,  Thomas  Catline. 

Rksiants:  Richd  Marsh,  Joseph  ffowler  Roger  Dwiggin  Thom  Casev, 
Jn°   Saunders,  Henry  Porter,   fl'rancis    Mondcford    \Y '."    Simpson    W" 

George.-  George  B es  VV-"  West,  W™  Clieshire,  Jn"   Paler,  Robto 

fl'arrer   George   Keith,  Joshua   Lee  James    Green,  Thorn  oakely,   Jn? 
Turner,  Maunce  .Miles,  Jn"    Dash  W'"  fl'elatead  Jn'-'   Chauntry : 

Jurv         Richd  ll'oster  )  Jn"    Blackiston        ] 

J  n"    Tenison  Jn"  Stanley 

Edward  Connory    '    .„  Kiehd  Saunderson    (     , 

..   .  r  Sworne      ,„.,.,,  ,    .s\sorne 

Robte  Cowper  Jn"    Bullock 

Tiiom  Catiline  Thorn  oakely 

W?  Watts  J  Jn':  Paler     '  J 


36  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

Bayliff  Jn°  Shankes  &  Sworne. 

Prksentm":  Wee  p'sent  that  Barthollomew  Phillips  his  land  wa9  not 
layd  out  according  to  order  of  Court  formerly  made  wherefore  he  is 
lined  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  &  caske  to  the  Lord. 

"We  prsent  John  Tenison  for  suffering  his  horses  to  destroy  John 
Blakiston's  Corne  field. 

We  prsent  that  Jn°  Stanly  and  Henry  Neale  killed  three  marked 
hogs  vpon  the  Lords  Mano*  w"!1  Capt  Gardiner  received  wc:  hogs  were 
not  of  Capt  Gardiner's  proper  marke  which  is  transferred  to  the  next 
Provinciall  Court,  there  to  be  determined  according  to  the  Law  of  the 
Province. 

We  prsent  that  Edward  Connery  killed  or  caused  to  be  killed  five 
wild  hogs  vpon  the  Lords  Mano*  this  was  done  by  the  Lords  order  and 
License 

We  prsent  that  the  Lord  of  the  Manno'  hath  not  provided  a  paire  of 
stocks,  pillory,  and  Ducking  Stoole  Ordered  that  these  Jnstrumts  of 
Justice  be  provided  by  the  next  Court  by  a  generall  contribution 
throughout  the  Mano* 

We  prsent  That  Edward  Convery's  land  is  not  bounded  in 

We  prsent  That  Thomas  Rives  hath  fallen  five  or  sixe  timber  trees 
vpon  Eichard  fibsters  land  within  this  Mano*  referred  till  view  may  be 
had  of  Rives  his  Lease 

We  prsent  That  Robert  Cowper's  land  is  not  bounded  according  to  a 
former  order  for  which  he  is  fined  1001  tobco. 

We  prsent  That  Jn'l  Blackiston  hunted  Jn?  Tenisons  horses  out  of 
the  sd  Blackistons  corne  field  fence  which  fence  is  proved  to  be  insuffi- 
cient by  the  oathes  of  Jn°   Hoskins  and  Daniell  White 

We  prsent  Richard  fibster  to  be  Constable  for  this  ManoT  for  the 
yeare  ensuing  who  is  sworne  accordingly. 

We  prsent  that  Jn°  Bullocks  land  is  not  bounded. 

We  prsent  Mr  Thomas  Notly,  Mr  Justinian  Gerard  &  Capt  Luke 
Gardiner,  ffreeholders  of  this  Manor:  for  not  a  appearing' to  do  their 
suit  at  the  Lords  Court  wherefore  they  are  amerced  each  man  601  of 
tobacco  to  the  lord 

Jt  is  ordered  That  every  mans  land  wthin  this  Mannor  whose  bounds 
are  vncertein  be  layd  out  before  the  next  Cor'  in  prsence  of  the  greatest 
part  of  this  Jury  according  to  their  soverall  Grants  vnder  penalty  of 
1001  tobcO  for  every  one  that  shall  make  default. 

Affeir   Thomas  Catline  -> 

Willm  Watts      }   Sworne- 

S*  Clements  |gs   A  Court  Leet  &   Court  Baron   of  Thomas   Gerard 
Manor       J        Esq'  there  held  on  Monday  the  28th  of  October  1072 
by  James  Gaylard  gent  Steward  there, 


Old  Maryland  Manors.  37 


ESSONIES 


FFREKHOI.DERS.  Justinian  Gerard  gent  Gerard  Sly  gent  Thomas  Notley 
gent  Boiijamine  Sally  gent  Capt  Luke  Gardiner  Robt"  Cole  Bartholo- 
mew Philips  Jn"  Bullock.  W™  Watts  James  Edmunds  Richard  Vpgate 
Simon  Rider  John  Ten  nison  Richard  fibster  Edward  Connory  Jn"  Shankes 
Jn°  Blackiston  Thomas  Jourdaine. 

Leaseholders  Capt  Peter  Lefebur  Henry  Shaddock  Richard  Saunderson 
Jn"  Hoskins  Thomas  Catline 

Resiants  Joseph  flbwler  Roger  Dwiggin  Henry  Porter  W™  Simpson 
"William  Georges  W"'  West  W™  Cheshire  Jn"  Paler  Joshua  Lee  Maurice 
Wiles  Jn"  Dash  Wm  ffelstead  Richard  Chillman  Robte  Samson  Henry 
Awsbury  Jn"  Hammilton  W™  Wilkinson  Abraham  Combos  Willm 
Harrison  J n°  Rosewell  Vincent  Mansfeild  Edward  Williams  Marma- 
duke  Simson  Nicholas  Smith  Humphry  Willey  James  Traske  Derby 
Dollovan  Jn°  Vpgate  Thomas  Rives  Michaell  Williams  Jn*  Sprigg 
Charles  Rookes  fl'rancis  Knott  Richard  Hart  Willm  Polfe  Thomas 
Attaway  James  Green  Jn"  Ball  Thomas  Liddiard  Edward  Bradbourne 
Jn"  Suttle  Jn°  Lee  Jn°  Barefoot  ffrancis  Wood. 

Jury  W'm  Watts  Jn°  Bullock 

Jn"  Ten  nison  Thorn  oakly 

Jn°  Rosewell  J.  Sworne.  Thorn  Jorden  Sworne. 

Jn"  Stanly  Jn"  Hoskins 

Richard  Saunderson    I  Jn"  Paler 

fl'rancis  Knott.  ^  Vincent  Mansfeild 

Edward  Bradbourne  complaineth  agt  Jn"  Tennison  that  lie  unjustly 
deteineth  from  him  2<M>  tobco  to  the  contrary  whereof  the  sd  Ter.nison 
having  in  this  Coart  taken  his  oath  the  s    Bradbourne  is  nonsuited. 

'We  p'sent  Jn"  Dash  for  keeping  hoggs  <k  cattle  upon  this  Manno' 
for  whch  he  is  fined  10001  tobco. 

We  p  sent  Henry  Poulter  for  keeping  of  hoggs  to  the  annoyance  of 
the  lord  of  the  Manor.  Ordered  that  ho  remove  them  within  12  days 
under  paine  of  4(H(  tobco  &  caske. 

We  prseiit  the  s  Henry  Poulter  for  keeping  a  .Mare  &  foale  upon  this 
Manor  to  the  annoyance  of  Jn"  Stanly  ordered  that  he  remove  the  ■-'1 
mare  &  foale  wl  in  12  daies  vnder  paine  of  1< h »l  of  tobco  &  caske 

We  p'svnt  Joshua  Lee  for  injuring  Jn"  Hoskins  hi>  hoggs  by  setting 
his  doggs  on  them  &  tearing  their  eares  &  other  hurts  for  which  he  is 
lined  KM)1  of  tobco  iV  caske 

We  p'sent  Humphry  Willy  for  keeping  a  tipling  house  &  selling  his 
drink  without  u  License  at  unlawful]  rates  fur  w'  '  he  is  lined  according 
to  act  of  assembly  in  that  case  made  &  provided 


38  Old  Maryland  Manors. 

We  prsent  Derby  Dollovan  for  committing  an  Affray  and  Shedding 
blood  in  the  house  of  the  sd  Humphry  "Willy  Ordered  that  the  sd 
Dolovan  give  suretys  for  the  peace. 

We  p'sent  W™  Simpson  for  bringing  hoggs  into  this  Manor  for 
which  he  is  fined  31  of  tobeO  And  ordered  that  he  remove  them  in  10 
days  vnder  paine  of  3001  of  tobco  &  caske 

We  prsent  Kobte  Samson  &  Henry  Awsbury  for  selling  drinke  at 
unlawfull  rates  for  which  they  are  each  of  them  fined  according  to  act 
of  Assembly. 

We  prsent  [Simon  Rider  for  keeping  an  under  tenant  contrary  to  the 
tenor  of  his  Deed  referred  till  view  may  be  had  of  the  sd  Deed. 

We  p'sent  that  Raphaell  Haywood  hath  aliened  his  ffreehold  to  Simon 
Rider  upon  woh  alienacon  there  is  a  reliefe  due  to  the  lord 

We  p'sent  an  alienacOn  from  James  Edmonds  to  Thomas  Oakely 
upon  wch  there  is  a  Reliefe  due  to  the  lord  and  Oakely  hath  sworne 
fealty. 

We  prsent  that  upon  the  death  of  Mr  Robte  Sly  there  is  a  Releife 
due  to  the  lord  &  that.  Mr  Gerard  Sly  is  his  next  heire  who  hath  sworne 
fealty  accordingly 

We  prsent  an  alienacon  from  Thomas  Catline  to  Anne  Vpgate 

We  prsent  that  upon  the  death  of  Richard  Vpgate  there  is  a  Releife 
due  to  the  lord  &  [Anne]  Vpgate  his  relict  is  next  heire 

We  p'sent  Mr  Hehemiah  Blackiston  tenant  to  the  land  formerly  in 
possession  of  Robert  Cowper  Mr  Blackiston  hath  sworne  fealty  accord- 
ingly 

We  prsent  an  alienacon  from  Wm  Barton  to  Benjamine  Sally  gent 
upon  wch  there  is  a  Releife  due  to  the  lord  &  Mr  Sally  hath  sworne 
fealty  to  the  lord. 

We  prsent  an  alienacon  from  Richard  ffoster  of  p  of  his  ffreehold  to 
Jn°  Blackiston  upon  which  there  is  a  Releife  due  to  the  lord 

We  prsent  a  Stray  horse  taken  upon  this  Mano'  and  delivered  to  the 
lord 

We  prsent  Robte  Cole  for  not  making  his  appearance  at  this  Court 
for  which  he  is  amerced  101  of  tobco  affeired  to  61  of  tobco. 

We  prsent  Edward nder  to  be  Constable  for  this  yeare  ensuing 

Sworne  accordingly. 

Akfeirors  Wm  Watts    1   Sworne 
Ja°-  Bullock  / 


VIII 


NORMAN  CONSTABLES 


A  M  E  R I C  A 


(Enter  Dogberry,  Verges,  and  Sexton,  in  gowns;  and  the  Watch,  with  Conrade  and 
Korachio). 

Doy.   Is  our  whole  dissembly  appeared  ? 

Verg.  0,  a  stool  and  a  cushion  for  the  sexton 

Sex.  But  which  are  the  offenders  that  are  to  be  examined?  Let  them  come  before 
master  constable. 

Doy.  Yea,  marry,  let  them  come  before  me.  ...  I  am  a  wise  fellow  ;  and,  which  is 
more,  an  officer;  and,  which  is  more,  a  householder;  and,  which  is  more,  as  pretty  a 
piece  of  flesh  as  any  in  Messina  ;  and  one  that  knows  the  law,  go  to  ;  and  a  rich  fellow 
enough,  go  to;  and  a  fellow  that  hath  had  losses;  and  one  that  hath  two  gowns,  and 
everything  handsome  about  him. — SJiakespeare. 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

I  N 

Historical   and    Political    Science 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,   Editor 


History   is  j.;i>l    Politics  and  Politics  present   History.  —  Freenuin 

VIII 

NORMAN  CONSTABLES 

I  N 

A  M  E  RICA 

Read  before  the  New  England  Historic,  Genealogical  Society.  February  I,  I8S2 

By  HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  PH.  D. 


H  A  LT  I  M  I)  K  E 

l'uiii.isnKD  by  tii k  Johns  Hoi-kins  I'nivumiv 

J  INK,    1883. 


JOHN  MURPHY  A  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


CONSTABLES. 


[Reprinted  from  the  N.  E.  Historical  and  Genealogical  Reoister  for  April,  1882  J 

CONSTABLES.- 


By   Herbert  B.  Adams. 


IX  the  library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  there  is  ;i 
small  black  letter  volume,  bearing  the  imprint  of  London,  LG14, 
and  entitled  "The  Dvties  of  Constables,  Borsholders,  Tythingmen, 
and  such  other  lovve  and  lay  Ministers  of  the  Peace — by  William 
Lambard  of  Lincolnes  Inne,  Gent."  By  the  same  author  and  in  the 
same  library  there  is  another  work  imprinted  in  London,  159b',  and 
entitled  "A  Perambulation  of  Kent:  Conteining  the  Description, 
Ilystories,  and  Customer  of  that  Shyre,"  written  originally  in  the 
year  1570  and  first  published  in  1576.  The  latter  work  bears  upon 
the  reverse  of  the  fly-leaf  the  name  of  Adam  Winthrop,  and  upon 
the  reverse  of  the  title-page  a  Latin  ode  by  Winthrop  in  praise  of 
Lambard. f  Scattered  through  the  work  are  many  annotations  and 
curious  scraps  of  writing  in  Winthrop's  hand.  This  very  book  was 
brought  to  America  by  the  first  governor  of  Massachusetts,  who  was 
well  read  in  the  laws  of  England,  like  his  father  and  like  his  schol- 
arly descendant,  the  Hon.  Robert  C  Winthrop,  who  presented  the 
above  volume  to  the  Historical  Society,  of  which  for  many  years  he 
has  been  the   honored   president. \     Through   John    Winthrop   it  is 

*  This  paper  was  read  before  t lie  New  England  Historic,  Genealogical  Society,  Feb.  1, 
1882. 

t  Adam  Winthrop  speaks  of  Lambard  as  a  "student  of  the  common  I.awe — Iwirrister — 
wise,  learned  ami  religious,  as  appereth  by  tins  booke."  A  few  years  a<*o,  from  a  kind  of  in- 
herited family  interest  in  Lambard,  the  Hon.  Robert  ('.  Winthrop,  when  visiting  Seven 
Oaks,  County  Kent,  noted  the  existence  of  a  monument  to  "  the  old  perambulator  of  Kent, 
and  'the  father  of  County  Historians.'  "  (Sec  Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  1S7-1-I!,  1!'7.)  Liniburd  died  at  Greenwich  near  the  seat  of  that  ancient  feudal  ma- 
nor, so  famous  in  Kuglisti  colonial  charters,  which  describe  how  lauds  are  to  be  held  of  his 
Majesty,  "  as  of  his  manor  of  Kast  Greenwich  in  the  County  of  Kent  in  tree  and  Common 
Soccage  and  not  in  Capite  nor  by  Ivnightes  service."  (See  Plymouth  Laws.  jr>.  Compare 
with  Records  of  Massachusetts,  i.  4.)  In  the  Nouvelle  liiographie  Utiurale  there  i-  an  ac- 
count of  Lambard,  based  upon  Nieliol's  Life  of  Lambarde  and  Bridgmun's  fci/ai  Hihiiix/ra- 
phy.  From  this  account  it  appears  that  our  author  was  born  in  1/otidon  in  I •">.')'>,  and  died, 
Aug.  19,  1601.  He  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  the  county  of  Kent,  1579,  and,  by  reason 
of  his  speeial  knowledge  of  legal  antiquities,  finally  became  Ma.-tcr  of  the  Rolis,  or  kee|  cr 
of  the  archives  of  Knvlaml,  through  the  favor  of  Queen  Kli/.abeth  He  compiled  various 
learned  works,  some  of  which  we  hive  found  in  Baltimore:  a  eolleetion  of  Saxon  law.*  en- 
titled Archaionomi;\  sivc  de  priseis  Anglorum  legibus  libri  (Peabndy  I.ibr.);  Kin  naivha, 
or  Duties  of  Justices  of  the  Peace  (Mass.  Hist.  Soc.)  ;  Paiuh  eta  Botulinum  ;  Atcheion  (or 
High  (Joints  of  Justice  in  Kngland,  to  lie  found  in  the  Mil.  Kpiscopal  Lihr.)  ;  Peramhula- 
tion  of  Kent.  The  latter  work  i-  the  corner  stone  of  the  local  history  of  I'.ngland.  Lam- 
hard  was  collecting  materials  tor  the  upbuilding  of  this  work  when  he  heard  that  Camden 
was  engaged  upon  the  same  great  task.  Li  in  bard  discontinued  hi-  own  ic*carelus,  liui 
they  weie  afterward  il"-'i'M  published  as  a  Dietionariuiu  Anglne  Topi  graphieuin  ct  Ili-to- 
riciini,  which  is  a  truly  monumental  treatise,  although  incomplete.  Lambard  deceives 
'  great  reverence,  for  he  was  the  founder  of  the  modern  science  of  local  hi-ion  which  has 
grown  to  such  grand  proportions  in  Knglish  Town  and  County  Histories,  and  in  Winsor's 
Memorial  History  ol  Boston.  Local  history  is  the  best  Inundation  tor  national  historv. 
Mr.  Kdward  A.  Freeman,  in  mi  address  to  the  Somerset-hire  Areha-ologieal  and  Natural 
History  Society  (Proceedings,  ISS'i,  vol.  xxvi.),  -aid  "the  proper  way  of  studying  loeal 
history  "  was  "a-  a  eontrilmtion  in  general  history." 

I  The    lion.    Robert  ('.    Winthrop,  in    the  lir-t  Voluuii      I  the  1  -.   of  Jolui 

Winthrop,  II-:*,  dc-cribes  this   v.iluaHe  work  with   parti   ular  ret'ert  nc.    to  tin     niami 
notes  by  his  am  estor.     A  copy  of  this  book  was  broicrht  ovi  r  to  thi  •  country  by  one  ■ 


not  improbable  that  the  influence  of  William  Lambard  crept  into  the 
early  local  legislation  of  Massachusetts.  At  all  events,  this  latter 
treatise  which  describes  the  freest  of  English  Counties  or  the  customs 
of  Kent,  whence  the  freehold  land  tenure  of  almost  every  English 
colony  in  America  was  derived,  and  the  former  essay  on  Constables, 
which  describes  the  parish  institutions  of  the  mother  country  at  the 
time  the  Puritans  came  over,  are  both  historical  monuments  deserv- 
ing not  only  watchful  guardianship,  but  scientific  attention. 

The  writings  of  William  Lambard  represent  the  most  advanced 
state  of  English  knowledge  in  the  sixteenth  century  concerning  the 
origin  of  municipal  institutions.  The  work  contains  many  errors 
and  numerous  incorrect  etymologies,  but  these  are  faults  of  the  time 
rather  than  of  the  man.  Practically  Lambard  was  the  transmitter 
if  not  one  of  the  fathers  of  English  Institutional  History.  After 
him,  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  came  Lords  Bacon  and  Coke  and  the 
now  forgotten  Dr.  Cowell,  commenting  on  the  laws  and  Institutes 
of  England,  as  handed  down  by  Granville,  Bracton,  Britton,  Fleta, 
Fortescue,  Littleton  and  others.  In  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  ap- 
peared Sir  Matthew  Hale,  with  the  first  regular  History  of  the  Com- 
mon Law.  For  a  century  after  Hale  there  was  no  really  monu- 
mental treatise  on  English  institutions,  with  the  exception  perhaps 
of  Spelman's  works  and  Dr.  Wood's  Institutes,  until  the  year  of  the 
American  Stamp  Act  (1765)  when  Blackstone's  Commentaries  were 
first  published.  Like  all  his  predecessors,  Blackstone  was  practi- 
cally and  necessarily  a  compiler.  Whatever  he  had  to  say  regard- 
ing the  municipal  institutions  of  England,  concerning  Constables, 
Tithingmen  and  Justices  of  the  Peace,  he  extracted  from  older  wri- 
ters like  Dr.  Burns  and  William  Lambard.  Thus  our  monumental 
author  of  the  sixteenth  century  has  been  built  into  the  very  founda- 
tions of  English  Institutional  History.  Since  Blackstone  there 
has  been  reared  upon  the  basis  of  his  work  and  that  of  his  pre- 
decessors, a  History  of  English  Law  by  Reeves,  the  publication 
of  whose  treatise  began  the  year  American  independence  was 
acknowledged  by  Great  Britain  (1783).  During  the  present  cen- 
tury, the  Institutional  History  of  England  has  been  greatly  advanced 
by  the  writings  of  Palgrave,  Kemble,  Thorpe,  Sir  Henry  Maine, 
Stubbs  and  Freeman,  all  of  whom  owe  much  of  their  inspiration  to 
the  historical  science  of  Germany.  From  impulses  proceeding  from 
German  scholars  and  from  the  new  school  of  English  historians,  have 
sprung  the  recent  American  studies  in  historical  jurisprudence,  the 
essays  in  Anglo-Saxon  Law  by  Henry  Adams,  Heniy  Cabot  Lodge, 
Ernest  Young  and  J.  Laurence  Laughlin,  the  Placita  Anglo-Nor- 
mannica,  by  Melville  M.  Bigelow,  and  the  recent  lectures  by  O.  W. 
Holmes,  Jr.,  on  The  Common  Law. 

early  settlers  of  Patuxet  (Plymouth),  who  appears  to  have  removed  to  Rhode  Island.  This 
copy,  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Winsor,  was  borrowed  Ijv  the  writer  of  this  paper  from 
tliu  Library  of  Harvard  College,  and  led  to  the  discovery  in  Baltimore  bv  Mr.  Albert  S. 
Cook  of  a  third  copy  of  the  self-same  edition  (1596),  which  through  the  generosity  of  Mr. 
Cook  is  uow  in  our  possession. 


Along  this  line  of  march,  over  old  roads  into  new  fields,  American 
Institutional  History  will  one  day  advance.  It  is  the  purpose  of  a 
little  company  of  graduate  students  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University 
to  reconnoitre  the  ground.*  They  are  now  studying  upon  cooper- 
ative and.  to  some  extent,  upon  representative  principles,  the  local 
institutions  of  their  respective  states  or  sections  of  country.  A  few 
students  represent  Maryland  ;  others  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  Ken- 
tucky, Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  New  York. 
One  man  has  entered  the  field  of  Ohio  ;  others,  that  of  Michigan 
and  the  Northwest,  where  English  institutions  were  planted  upon 
French  soil.  A  student  from  Canada  will  investigate  the  Anglo- 
French  institutions  of  his  Province.  The  writer  of  this  monograph 
is  studying  the  origin  of  the  town  institutions  of  New  England,  and 
presents  the  following  research  upon  Constables  as  a  contribution  to 
the  main  subject. 

The  importance  of  the  Petty  Constable  as  a  connecting  link  be- 
tween New  England  Towns  and  Old  English  Parishes  has  never  yet 
been  recognized.  To  trace  the  origin  and  development  of  the  con- 
stabulary office  and  to  show  its  exact  process  of  transition  from  the 
old  country  to  the  new  is  the  object  of  this  paper.  Besides  Lambard 
and  the  old  time  authorities,  we  have  utilized  the  resources  of  mod- 
ern historical  science,  the  Statutes  of  the  Realm  and  of  the  English 
Colonies,  together  with  certain  hitherto  unpublished  manuscripts 
brought  over  to  New  England  by  Jonas  Humphrey,  who  settled  in 
the  parish-town  of  Dorchester,  Massachusetts.  According  to  the 
traditions  of  his  family,  he  was  a  constable  in  Wendover,  County 
Bucks,  in  England.  An  official  warrant  and  a  list  of  constabulary 
duties,  preserved  by  this  faithful  officer,  are  the  best  possible  sources 
of  information  as  to  the  character  of  the  constable's  office  at  the  time 
of  the  Puritan  migration. 

We  are  indebted  for  copies  of  the  above-mentioned  documents  to 
the  eminent  antiquary  of  Dorchester,  who  lately  prepared  for  pub- 
lication the  Suffolk  Deeds  (Boston,  1880),  Mr.  William  B.  Trask, 
a  descendant  of  Capt.  William  Trask,  one  of  the  old  planters  of 
Salem.  While  utilizing  in  the  body  of  this  monograph  many  facts 
derived  from  the  Humphrey  manuscripts,  we  shall  append  the  same 
in  full,  as  they  are  likely  to  prove  an  interesting  contribution  to  the 
history  of  our  local  institutions.  Mr.  Trask's  letter,  giving  a  brii  f 
account  of  Jonas  Humphrey  and  of  the  manuscripts  themselves, 
will  constitute  the  best  preface  to  their  separate  perusal.  Tin  >e 
documents  will  clearly  show  that  the  duties  of  constable  were  not 
only  more  honorable,  but  also  far  better  understood  in  Humphrey's 
day   than  in  the  time  of  Blackstone. 

The   latter,   in  his  very  inadequate  account  of  constables,   says  : 

*  Richard  Frothinghiun,  in  his  work  on  tho  Rise  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States, 
20,  say-,  "  I  have  not  met  with  a  volume,  or  even  an  cs»av,  mi  ihe  growth  of  the  munici- 
pal system  in  the  United  State-." 


"  Considering  what  manner  of  men  are  for  the  most  part  put  into  these 
offices,  it  is  perhaps  very  well  that  they  are  generally  kept  in  igno- 
rance" of  the  extent  of  their  powers.*  This  observation,  which 
has  been  quoted  over  and  over  again,  as  though  it  were  an  infallible 
precept  of  the  Common  Law,  and  which  even  finds  honorable  men- 
tion in  the  last  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  in  the  article 
on  "Constables,"  may  perhaps  account  in  some  measure  for  the  gene- 
ral disrepute  and  comparative  obscurity  into  which  this  ancient  office, 
once  dignified  and  well  known,  has  now  fallen.  Time  was  when 
the  best  men  of  an  English  parish  held  in  rotation  the  office  of  Pa- 
rish Constable.  No  one  was  permitted  to  decline  the  responsibility 
of  village  headship,  except  women,  who  were  allowed  to  furnish 
substitutes.  In  an  old  book  entitled  w  English  Liberties,"  published 
in  London,  1719,  it  is  said,  "The  Petty  Constable  is  chosen  by  the 
people  of  the  Parish.  .  .  .  The  Petty  Constables  ought  to  be  hon- 
est and  able  Men  both  in  Body  and  Estate,  and  not  of  the  meaner 
Sort ;  and  therefore  it  hath  been  held  that  they  ought  not  to  be  cho- 
sen by  the  House  or  Custom,  if  not  fit  to  execute  the  Office.  But 
'tis  now  ruled,  That  a  Custom  for  the  Inhabitants  to  serve  by  Turns 
is  good ;  so  if  it  happen  on  a  Woman  she  must  provide  one  to  serve 
the  Office."f 

In  attempting  to  reconstruct  the  historical  idea  of  the  office  of  con- 
stable, we  cannot  rely  with  any  degree  of  confidence  on  Blackstone, 
for  the  constabulary  office  had  evidently  begun  to  degenerate  even 
in  his  day ;  and,  as  we  have  already  implied,  the  learned  judge  him- 
self, in  his  enumeration  of  constabulary  duties,  merely  quoted  from 
older  writers  like  Lambard,  who  were  better  informed.  Neither  can 
we  rely  implicitly  upon  Lambard  or  Lord  Coke,  for  both  of  these 
early  authorities  fail  to  explain  even  the  origin  of  the  constable's 
name.  Coke  in  his  Institutes,  following  Lambard,  says,  "Consta- 
ble or  cunstable  is  compounded  of  the  Saxon  words  cuninge  per  con- 
tractionem  kinge,  and  stable,  id  est  columen,  quasi  columen  regis, 
anciently  written  cuningstable."J  In  other  words,  Lord  Coke  seri- 
ously maintains  that  the  Constable,  etymologically  considered,  is  the 
support  or  mainstay  of  the  King.  Such  an  unwarrantable  deriva- 
tion of  the  name  constable  represents  the  fantastic,  unscientific  phi- 
lology of  the  sixteenth  century,  inherited  from  the  mediaeval  monks, 
who  explained  the  origin  of  words  with  even  more  originality  than 
did  Home  Tooke  or  Noah  Webster. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  term  constable  was  introduced  into  Eng- 
land through  the  Norman-French  Connetable,  old  French  Conesta- 
ble  or  Cunestable.     The  word  is  derived  from  the  Low  Latin  Con- 

*  Blackstone's  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England  (Judge  Cooley's  eel.),  i.  3o5. 

t  English  Liberties  or  the  Free-born  Subject's  Inheritance,  containing  Magna  Charta, 
Charta  tie  Foresta,  &c  Lastly,  of  Justices  of  the  Peace,  Coronors',  Constables,  Church- 
wardens, Overseers  of  the  Poor,  Surveyors  of  the  Highways,  &c.  Compiled  first  by  Henry 
Care.  ..  In  the  Savoy,  1719.  ^ 

X  Coke,  Institutes,  Part  iv.  cap.  xvii. 


stabulus  (comes  stabuli,  or  count  of  the  stable).  It  is  a  word 
common  to  all  the  Romance  languages,  although  in  somewhat  vary- 
ing forms.  Jt  appears  in  the  Provencal,  in  Italian,  in  Spanish  and 
in  Portuguese.  Both  the  Latin  and  the  French  forms  were  early 
imported  into  England.  In  Magna  Carta  we  have  Constabularius. 
In  the  Rolls  of  Parliament  frequently  occurs  the  form  Conestable. 
The  institution  itself,  as  understood  by  the  Normans  and  the  peo- 
ples of  Southern  Europe,  was  akin  to  the  Byzantine  comes  stabuli 
and  the  classic  Master-of-Horse.  Undoubtedly  the  office  had  its 
origin  in  menial  service  in.  connection  with  the  royal  stable.  Pri- 
marily a  constable  was  a  hostler.  The  constabulary  office  belongs 
to  a  nexus  of  court  institutions,  like  those  of  chamberlain,  cup- 
bearer and  steward,  which  arc  of  immemorial  antiquity  and  common 
to  both  Aryan  and  Shemitic  monarchies. 

We  shall  discuss  the  whole  subject  of  the  institutions  of  the  Royal 
Household  in  a  special  paper  on  the  Origin  of  the  Modern  Ministe- 
rial System,  but,  in  this  connection,  would  merely  remark  that  the 
name  constable  suggests  a  certain  Byzantine  influence  surviving  in 
the  office  itself,  as  the  name  of  Caesar  survives  in  the  Russian  Czar,* 
and  the  German  Kaiser,  or  as  the  idea  of  the  classic  Imperator  sur- 
vives in  modern  emperors.  Undoubtedly  at  a  very  early  date  Teutonic 
kings  and  dukes  had  their  ministerial  officers,  their  hostlers  of  high 
degree.  The  Franks  had  their  Marschalk  (from  Mar,  a  horse,  and 
Schalk,  a  knave  or  servant),  an  institution  surviving  in  France  to  this 
day,  in  two  forms,  (1)  Marechal  de  France,  (2)  Marechal  fer- 
rant,  or  slioer  of  horses.  The  Lombard  kings  and  dukes  had  their 
Marpahis.  The  Saxons  had  their  Ilorsethegn  or  Staller.  Of  neces- 
sity such  offices  would  exist  in  the  equine  establishment  of  every 
Teutonic  chieftain.  It  is  highly  probable  that  an  old  Germanic  in- 
stitution was  baptized  by  a  Latin  name,  Constabulus,  just  as  a  Ger- 
man military  leader  becomes  a  dux  or  duke.  Classic  titles,  Byzan- 
tine trappings  and  court  usages  were  introduced  into  the  royal  house- 
holds of  almost  every  Teutonic  king  or  count;  but  while  thus  clothed 
upon  with  a  Latin  name  and  oriental  dignity,  mediaeval  consta- 
bles owe  their  historic  origin  to  menial  service.  In  the  South  Ger- 
man town  of  Heidelberg  there  stands  in  a  good  state  of  preserva- 
tion an  ancient  feudal  stable,  built  of  old  red  sand-stone,  and  known 
as  the  JMarstall.  It  is  now  used  as  a  riding-school  for  University 
students  ;  but  it  is  a  good  surviving  type  of  the  original  horse-stalls 
whence  the  Marshals  of  Saxony  and  of  Fiance,  the  Fail  Marshals 
and  Lord  High  Constables  of  England,  rode  forth  to  glory  and 
honor. 

*  Tlic  notion  Mint  the  won!  Tzar  was  a  corruption  of  ('a>sar.  wis  formerly  unquestioned, 
but  Creasy,  in  liis  Platform  of  International  Law,  Vila,  ami  in  his  History  of  tin"  Ottoman 
Turks,  i.  311,  says  it  is  an  Oriental,  |H»ssil)ly  a  Tartar  word,  meaning  sovereign  ruler. 
Hi-  thinks  the  Russians  acquired  it  through  the  Sclavonic  translation  of  the  Uihle.  Hut  Mr. 
Kdward  A.  Fireman,  in  his  recent  lectures  Iwforc  the  students  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, on  the  Historical  Geography  of  South-Kustern  Kurope,  came  to  the  rescue  of  the 
old  etymology,  saying  that  he  had  been  assured  by  a  Slavonic  friend  of  undoubted  author- 
ity, that  the  old  derivation  is  the  correct  one. 


8 

The  office  of  the  Lord  High  Constable  (  Constabularius  totius 
Anglice)  came  into  prominence  as  an  hereditary  office  in  the  person 
of  Miles  of  Gloucester  in  the  reign  of  Stephen  (1135-1154),  al- 
though probably  long  before  this  constables  had  existed  in  every 
royal  town  and  castle,  in  every  earldom  and  upon  every  great  mano- 
rial estate.  Of  course  the  office  diminished  in  dignity  the  nearer  it 
approached  the  common  people.  Among  the  subject  Saxons  existed 
a  lowly  office  known  by  various  names,  as  Tithingman,  Borhs- 
Ealdor,  Elder  of  the  Pledge,  Head-Borough,  or  Borough-Reeve, 
upon  whom  the  shadow  of  the  Norman  name  of  constable  was  soon 
to  fall,  as  the  umbra  nominis  Homani  had  fallen  upon  many  old 
Teutonic  institutions.  We  cannot  dwell  at  length  in  this  connec- 
tion upon  the  office  of  the  Lord  High  Constable;  suffice  it  to  say, 
he  was  the  representative  of  the  King  in  all  matters  pertaining  to 
armies  and  castles.  He  provided  for  all  the  King's  horses  and  all 
the  King's  men.  He  mustered  the  royal  forces  and  saw  to  it  that 
every  vassal  sent  his  proper  quota  of  armed  men  and  horse.  If  an 
expedition  was  to  be  undertaken  into  foreign  parts,  the  Lord  High 
Constable  provided  means  of  transportation  and  served  as  kind  of 
Inspector-General.  He,  in  conjunction  with  the  Earl  Marshal,  took 
cognizance  of  all  offences  committed  during  the  foreign  campaign, 
and  decided  all  questions  relating  to  the  disposition  of  prisoners  and 
booty.  From  the  exercise  of  such  functions  arose  Courts  Martial 
and  Martial  Law. 

According  to  Lambard  and  Blackstone  the  lower  constabulary 
office  was  drawn  from  that  of  the  Lord  High  Constable,  "  as  it  were 
a  very  finger  from  that  hand."  Blackstone  differentiates  the  lower 
office  into  the  High  Constable  of  the  Hundred  and  the  Petty  Con- 
stable of  the  town  or  parish.  On  the  authority  of  Spelman,  he  says 
Petty  Constables  were  "  first  instituted  about  the  reign  of  Edward 
III.*  We  have  looked  through  the  statutes  belonging  to  this  reign 
and  fail  to  find  any  sufficient  ground  for  the  above  statement.  It  is  at 
best  rather  a  loose  way  of  describing  the  origin  of  an  institution  to 
refer  it  to  "  about  the  reign  "  of  a  King  who  reigned  for  fifty  years 
(1327-77).  As  to  the  origin  of  High  Constables,  Blackstone  is  more 
precise.  He  ascribes  this  institution  to  the  Statute  of  Winchester, 
13  Edward  I.  (1285),  when  it  was  enacted  that  M  in  every  hundred 
and  franchise  two  constables  shall  be  chosen  to  make  the  view  of 
armour." f  Although  Blackstone  and  all  the  host  who  follow  him 
are  wrong  on  this  point  also,  for  the  Constable  of  the  Hundred  is 
much  older  than  the  Statute  of  Winchester,  yet  in  this  connection  it 
is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  latter  office  appears  to  be  intimate- 
ly related  to  the  militia  system  of  which  the  Lord  High  Constable 
was  the  administrative  head.  By  the  Statute  of  Winchester,  every 
man  in  England  was  to  "  have  in  his  house  harness  for  to  keep  the 

*  Blackstone,  855.    Compare  Lambard. 
t  Stubbs,  Select  Charters,  474. 


peace."  All  men  from  fifteen  to  sixty  years  of  age  were  to  possess 
anus  and  armor  according  to  their  estate,  the  highest  requirements 
being  "an  hauherke,  an  lielme  of  iron,  a  sword,  a  knife,  and  a 
horse;''  and  the  lowest,  simply  a  how  and  arrows.  The  Constables 
were  to  make  a  r'  view  of  tumour"  twice  a  year,  and  report  all  de- 
linquents to  some  justice  of  the  peace,  who  in  turn  reported  them  to 
the  King  in  Parliament.  This  mode  of  procedure  has  its  exact 
counterpart  in  the  presentment  of  delinquents  in  arms  and  armor 
before  the  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  General  Courts. 

Other  curious  parallels  between  constables  of  old  England  in  the 
thirteenth  and  of  New  England  in  the  seventeenth  centuries  are  the 
requirements  in  the  Statute  of  Winchester  that  the  above  local  offi- 
cers shall  report  defaults  in  the  highways,  in  watch  and  ward,  and  in 
bringing  matters  to  justice  ;  but  the  following  is  especially  note- 
worthy :  Constables  "shall  present  all  such  as  do  lodge  strangers  in 
uplandish  towns  for  whom  they  will  not  answer."  The  records  of 
Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  colonics  arc  full  of  such  enactments  ; 
for  example  in  Massachusetts  it  was  ordered  "that  the  cunstables 
should  inform  of  new  comers,  if  any  be  admitted  without  license." 
It  had  been  enjoined  by  the  General  Court  that  "no  towne  or  person 
shall  receive  any  stranger"  without  the  allowance  of  magistrates.*  It 
was  ordained  bv  the  town  of  Newbury,  Mass.,  that  no  one  should 
be  admitted  as  an  inhabitant  without  the  consent  and  approbation  of 
the  body  of  freemen  resilient  in  that  town.f  It  has  been  thought 
that  such  restrictions  upon  new  comers  were  marks  of  Puritan  intol- 
erance. They  were  simply  revivals  of  old  English  law.  J  The  Stat- 
ute of  Winchester  is  said  by  Canon  Stubbs  to  be  "a  monument  of 
the  persistence  of  primitive  institutions  working  their  way  through 
the  substratum  of  feudalism  and  gaining  strength  in  the  process. "§ 

For  earlier  outcroppings  of  the  institutions  of  the  Constable  of  the 
Hundred,  and  the  Constable  of  the  town  or  parish,  we  have  only  to 
turn  back  to  the  Assize  of  Arms,||  36  Henry  III.  (1252),  whereby 
in  every  township  one  or  two  constables,  according  to  the  number  of 
inhabitants,  and  in  every  hundred  one  chief  constable  {capital is 
conxUtbularius)  were  to  be  appointed.  At  the  summons  of  the  lat- 
ter all  men  sworn  to  arms  wire  to  muster  from  their  respective  hun- 

«  Mass.  Col.  Roc.  i.  19(1,241. 

t  Collin,  History  of  Newbury,  '2-',. 

I  Besides  the  evidence  on  this  point  in  the  Statute  of  Winchester,  see  also  the  Writ  of 
1233  for  the  conservation  of  the  peace  (Tie  forma  pads  consorvamla) :  Item  uulliis  bospi- 
tctur  aliqueui  extraneum  ulna  imam  noeteiii  nisi  possit  invenive  plegins  de  tidelitate  ct  quod 
nullum  damnum  eveniet  per  cum,  ct  res[>ondeat  pro  eo  sieut  pro  uuo  do  f.iniilia  sua. — 
Stubbs,  Select  Charters  3<>2. 

Compart*  with  the  aliovc  the  following  extract  from  the  MS.  Town  Records  of  Plymouth, 
Oct.  29,  1(1(58  :  "Ordered  !>y  the  Town,  that  the  Selectmen  shall  henceforth  have  power  to 
require  any  that  shall  receive  any  strangers,  so  as  to  entertain  them  in t ^ >  their  houses,  to 
give  security  unto  them  to  save  the  Town  harmless  from  any  damage  that  may  accrue  unto 
them  hy  their  entertainment  of  such  as  aforesaid."  It  was  likewise  agreed  that  John 
Even-on  lie  forthwith  warned  to  depart  the  town  with  all  convenient  speed ! 

{  Stubbs,  Select  Charters,  47". 

||  Stubbs,  Select  Charters,  372. 

2 


10 

drcds  and  follow  his  behests  in  whatever  related  to  the  preservation 
of  the  King's  peace.  Whoever  were  found  under  arms  and  not 
deputed  for  the  above  purpose  were  to  be  arrested.  If  they  refused 
to  allow  themselves  to  be  arrested,  then  the  constables  of  the  hundreds 
and  of  the  towns  were  to  levy  the  Hue  and  Cry  upon  the  offenders 
and  pursue  them  from  town  to  town  (de  villa  in  villain)  until  they 
were  finally  taken.  We  are  here  very  evidently  on  the  historic  track 
of  ancient  Saxon  customs.  We  are  at  once  reminded  of  a  law  dat- 
ing back  as  far  as  the  time  of  King  Edgar  (957-975)  concerning 
the  pursuit  of  a  thief:  "If  there  be  present  need,  let  it  be  made 
known  to  the  hundred-man,  and  let  him  [make  it  known]  to  the 
tithing-men  ;  and  let  all  go  forth  to  where  God  may  direct  them  to 
go  :  let  them  do  justice  on  the  thief,  as  it  was  formerly  the  enact- 
ment of  Edmund. — We  have  also  ordained  :  if  the  hundred  pursue 
a  track  into  another  hundred,  that  notice  be  given  to  the  hundred- 
man,  and  that  he  then  go  with  them."*  There  appears  to  be  some 
connection  between  the  Hundredman  of  the  days  of  King  Edgar  and 
King  Edmund  (941-946)  and  the  Constable  of  the  Hundred  in  the 
day 8  of  Henry  III.  There  surely  is  some  relation  between  the 
Saxon  Tithingman  above  mentioned  and  the  Norman  Petty  Consta- 
ble. Although  there  is  a  gap  of  three  hundred  years,  yet  the  bridge 
between  these  Saxon  and  Norman  institutions  is  natural  and  un- 
broken . 

When  the  Normans  made  the  conquest  of  Saxon  England  they 
found  the  country  self-governed.  The  whole  land  was  minutely 
subdivided  into  so-called  Hundreds,  or  Wapentakes,  and  Tithings. 
The  origin  of  these  local  divisions  is  of  very  great  antiquity.  They 
root  in  the  military  institutions  of  the  ancient  Teutons,  whereby  kin- 
dred warriors  were  mustered  by  tens  and  hundreds.  The  Hundred 
was  the  institutional  multiple  of  the  Tithing.  But  in  many  cases 
the  Hundred  was  the  long  Hundred  of  six  score,  and  it  appears  that 
the  Tithing  was  sometimes  known  as  Dozeine  (Dizaine-10),  for  ex- 
ample in  the  Year  Books  of  Edward  III.  It  seems  probable  that 
the  Hundred  may  have  frequently  contained  twelve  Tithings,  and  that 
there  was  some  connection  between  these  twelve  local  units  and  the 
judicial  representation  of  the  Hundred  by  twelve  men,  although  in 
the  Shiremoot  and  Hundredmoot  the  Tithing,  Town,  or  Parish  was 
represented  directly  by  its  Reeve,  or  Constable,  and  four  best  men. 
Undoubtedly  both  the  Tithing  and  the  Hundred  were  originally  per- 
sonal in  their  composition.  Ten  or  more  warriors  made  a  Tithing, 
and  ten  or  more  Tithings  constituted  the  Hundred,  of  which  possi- 
bly a  type  survives  in  the  militia  company  of  one  hundred  men,  for 
there  is  no  break  between  the  military  institutions  of  Medvheal  and 
Modern  England.  When  a  Teutonic  Host,  or  army,  settled  down 
by  kith  and  kin  in  local  precincts  bearing  the  names  of  families,  then 

*  Thorpe,  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  England,  i.  259, 261. 


11 

Tithings  and  Hundreds  gradually  became  territorial  in  character, 
varying  in  size  according  to  the  amount  of  land  occupied.  In  the 
more  thickly  settled  parts  of  England  Tithings  and  Hundreds  are 
much  .smaller  than  in  the  more  sparsely  settled  regions.  Naturally 
with  increasing  population  the  numerical  divisions  would  not  re- 
main constant.  There  are  cases  known  where  a  Tithing  contained 
as  many  as  eighty  men.  The  point  was  that  there  must  be  at  least 
ten  heads  of  families  in  order  to  constitute  a  Tithing,  Town,  or 
Parish. 

Doubtless  for  a  long  period  the  Saxon  Tithings  and  Hundreds 
sent  their  full  quota  to  the  muster  of  the  Host,  but  gradually  public 
demands  diminished  until  finally,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  only 
one  man-at-arms,  equipped  and  furnished  for  sixty  days,  was  re- 
quired from  each  parish,  although,  if  occasion  demanded,  the  quota 
was  increased.  The  requirement  was  always  made  of  the  Reeve 
and  four  best  men,  as  representative  of  the  town  or  parish.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that,  down  to  modern  times,  English  parishes 
kept  each  their  suit  of  "town  armour,"  usually  in  the  parish  church, 
for  which  reason  the  arms  were  sometimes  called  "  church  armour,' 
or  "church  harness."  in  the  parish  records  of  Kingston-on-Thames, 
is  an  item  of  thirteen  shillings,  four  pence,  paid  in  1603  "To  James 
Allison  and  four  others,  for  carrying  the  armour  at  the  coronation." 
Here  is  perhaps  the  idea  of  military  representation  of  the  town  by 
Iteevc  and  Four.  In  the  parish  records  of  Fulham,  Middlesex, 
there  is  the  following  inventory  of  parish  armor  :  "  Anno  1583.  Note 
of  the  armour  for  the  parish  of  Fulham,  viz.  Fulham  side  only. 
First,  a  corslet,  with  a  pyke,  sworde,  and  daiger,  furnished  in  all 
points,  a  gyrdle  only  excepted.  Item,  two  hargobushes  [arque- 
buses, German  hahenbuechse ,  or  gun  with  a  hook,  or  forked  restj, 
with  flaskes  ami  touch  boxes  to  the  same  ;  two  morrvons  [helmets 
without  visors]  ;  two  swords,  and  two  daigers,  and  two  hanglesses 
unto  two  swords  :  which  are  all  for  Fulhamc  side  only.  All  which 
arinore  are,  and  do  remayne,  in  the  possession  and  appointment  ot 
John  l'ulton  or  Xorthend,  being  constable  of  Fulham-syde  the  yerc 
above  wryttcn." 

The  local  institutions  of  England  developed  from  military  germs 
implanted  in  the  village  community  system  of  immemorial  antiquity. 
The  above  example  ot'  town  armor  in  the  keeping  of  the  constable 
is  onlv  a  historical  survival,  s  u  direst  in  <j-  the  original  martial  charae- 
ter  of  the  entire  community.  We  must  regard  the  local  settlement 
of  our  Saxon  forefathers  as  tin;  permanent  encampment  of  a  Teu- 
tonic Host,  by  Hundreds  and  Tithings,  or  by  companies  and  squads, 
under  the  command  of  Hundredmen  and  Tithingmen,  who  mustered 
their  respective  quotas  from  local  precincts,  and  who,  in  the  midst 
of  agrarian  pursuits,  served  as  watchful  sentinels,  ever  ready  to 
arouse  a  peaceful  population  to  arms.  With  the  Saxons  the  ob- 
ject of  wars  and  forays  was  to  secure   a  better  footing  lor  peace. 


12 

When  the  war  or  expedition  was  over,  it  remained  the  duty  of  the 
Hundrcdmen  and  Tithingmen,  as  local  watchmen  and  police  magis- 
trates, to  keep  the  peace.  Hence  arose  the  civil  functions  of  officers 
once  purely  military.  The  Saxon  system  of  Watch  and  Ward, 
which  is  the  germ  of  our  modern  police  system,  the  Courts  of  the 
Tithing  and  of  the  Hundred,  which  are  germs  of  the  town  meetings 
and  General  Courts  of  New  England, — these  institutions,  together 
with  Petty  Constables  and  Justices  of  the  Peace,  were  all  the  out- 
growths of  military  beginnings.  The  ancient  Tithingman  became 
the  Parish  Constable,  the  keeper  of  the  village  peace  and  of  the  town 
armor,  whose  chief  duty,  as  late  as  the  time  of  the  Tudors,  was  "  to 
prepare  the  muster  of  his  district,  which  the  constable  of  the  shire 
would  embody  in  the  array  of  the  county,  to  be  in  tui-n  marshalled, 
in  the  army  of  the  realm  by  the  high  constable  of  England."*  Pal- 
grave  says  the  mailed  leader  of  the  Hundred  became  a  rustic  peace 
officer. f  But  constables  and  their  developed  type,  the  modern 
policemen,  are  more  interesting  historically  than  justices  of  the 
peace,  for  the  former  represent  the  actual  survival  of  a  more  or  less 
military  power  in  the  midst  of  civil  society.  Constables  may  be 
plain  men  in  civic  garb,  but  let  these  quiet  sentinels  of  slumbering 
towns  and  villages  but  give  the  alarm  of  approaching  danger.  The 
whole  community  springs  at  once  to  arms.  The  entire  town,  if 
necessary,  becomes  a  constable's  watch.  The  alarm  will  quickly 
spread  from  hamlet  to  hamlet,  and  from  shire  to  shire,  until  the 
whole  people  becomes  again  an  armed  host,  a  Landsturm  sweeping 
peril  from  its  borders.  The  American  Revolution  sprang  from 
town  meetings  in  the  North  and  parish  meetings  in  the  South,  both 
warned  by  constables.  The  great  armies  levied  by  both  sections  of 
country  during  our  late  civil  war,  were  but  the  uprising  of  the  old 
militia  spirit  still  lurking  in  our  local  institutions.  And  even  the 
military  system  of  Germany,  with  its  power  to  draft  the  entire  male 
population,  must  be  regarded  only  as  a  more  perfect  development 
of  primitive  Teutonic  institutions  of  a  martial  character. 

The  Normans  reconstructed  England  upon  the  basis  of  existing 
local  institutions.  The  Hundred  and  the  Tithing:  were  both  retain- 
ed,  the  latter,  however,  under  the  name  of  innumerable  Townships 
and  Parishes  into  which  ancient  Tithings  had  grown.  The- fact  that 
Tithings  are  not  distinctly  mentioned  under  that  name  in  the  Domes- 
day Book  is  not  of  such  importance  as  GneistJ  and  other  writers 
have  alleged,  for  an  original  Tithing  of  inhabitants  very  natu- 
rally adopted  some  local  name  derived  either  from   a  leading  family 

*  The  Parish  in  History,  29.    By  a  hereditary  High  Churchman.    London,  1871. 

t  1'algrave,  English  Commonwealth,  i.  201. 

t  Oneist,  Verwaltungsrecht,  i.  51,  59.  But  compare  Palgrave,  English  Commonwealth 
ii.  exxi.,  where  he  shows  that  territorial  Tithings  existed  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  (1216- 
72),  and,  indeed,  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Athelstan  (925-941).  In  the  Rolls  of  the  Itinerary 
of  Devonshire,  23  Henry  III.,  occur  such  entries  as  "  Thedinga  de  Herticumbe,"  spoken 
of  as  synonymous  with  the  "  Villa  de  Herticumbe." 


13 

or  from  geographical  surroundings.  But  the  old  name  of  Tithing 
lingered  on,  in  connection  with  local  names,  in  very  many  English 
counties,  in  Gloucestershire  and  Worcestershire,  and  "  in  all  coun- 
ties south  of  the  Thames  (except  Kent  and  Cornwall)  where  they 
answer  to  the  townships  of  other  counties."*  Tithings  still  exist  in 
the  south-west  of  England,  in  Somersetshire  and  Wiltshire.  Mr. 
Edward  A.  Freeman,  the  English  historian,  during  his  recent  visit 
to  Baltimore,  informed  us  that  he  lived  in  the  Tithing  of  Burcott, 
Wells,  County  Somerset,  which  Tithing  used  to  tax  itself  for  local 
purposes  before  the  recent  Poor  Law  and  Highway  Act. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  substantial  identity  of  the  insti- 
tutions of  Saxon  Tithingman  and  Norman  Petty  Constable.  In 
the  Polls  of  Parliament  belonging  to  the  rime  of  Henry  VI.  (  1 422— 
61),  these  officers  are  spoken  of  synonymous,  "  Chescnn  Conestable, 
Tithingman,  ou  chief  Plegge,  de  ehescun  Yille  on  Hamell.''  The 
coexistence  of  the  old  and  new  names  may  be  thus  explained.  The 
head-men  of  the  more  important  Tithings  became  known  as  Pettv 
Constables,  whereas  in  the  villa  and  hamlets  of  less  importance, 
although  in  the  same  neighborhood,  the  old  Saxon  Tithingmen  re- 
mained. In  some  places  they  were  called  Chief  Pledges,  Elders  of 
the  Pledge  or  Borhs-Ealdors  (corrupted  in  Lambard's  time  into 
Bondholders),  Head-Boroughs,  Borough-Peeves,  Third-Boroughs 
and  the  like.  'In  some  shires,"  says  Lambard,  ''  where  enerie 
Third  Borow  hath  a  Constable,  there  the  officers  of  the  other  two 
be  called  Third-borowes."f  In  a  special  treatise  on  the  duties  of 
the  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Lambard  says:  "To  be  short,  euerv  Con- 
stable, petie  Constable,  Tithingman  and  Borowhead,  be  Conserva- 
tors of  the  Peace  by  their  offices  within  the  limits  of  their  Hundreds, 
Towns,  Tithings  and  Boroughs.  And  by  the  same  reason  our  Bors- 
holders  in  Kent  and  their  Third horow  in  Warwickshire  be  Conser- 
vators also  within  their  Boroughs.  For  Borowhead.  Borsholder, 
Tythingnian  be  three  seuerall  names  of  one  selfesame  oilier,  and  doe 
signitie,  the  ehiefe  man  of  the  free  pledges  within  the  Borow  or 
Tything."|  Free  Pledge  or  Frank  Pledge  is  only  a  corruption  of 
the  Saxon  Frith-Borh  or  Pence-Pledge.  It  was  the  personal  Tith- 
ing, the  Tenmannetale  of  Yorkshire,  or  ten  men  who  were  bound 
together,  unde'1  the  authority  of   the  Tithingman,  to  keep  the  peace. 

The  Saxon  Tithingman  and  the  Norman  Petty  Constable  were 
both  elective  officers.  They  were  the  Selectmen  of  their  neighbor- 
hoods. The  Betty  Constable,  so  called  to  distinguish  him  from  the 
High  Constable  of  the  Hundred,  continued  to  be  elected  by  his  Tith- 
ing, \  ill,  or  Parish,  down  to  recent  times.  lie  was  elected  in  one 
of  two  ways,  either  in  the  Vestry-Meeting  of  the  Parish  or  in  the 
Court  Led  (German  LwAc)  or  popular  Court  of  the  Manor.  The 
Tithingman,  Gerefa,  lfeeve,   or  Constable,  appears  to  have  acted  as 

*  Stuhhs,  Constitutional  History  of  England,  i.  80. 
r  I.ainbanl,  Duties  of  Constables,  S. 
I  Laiiibanl,  Kiietiaiclia,  It. 


14 

the  a^ent  of  the  Lord  of  the  Manor,  or  of  the  Town,  in  regulating 
the  Tithing  and  keeping  the  Peace-Pledge  of  the  little  community, 
but  "  he  seems,"  says  Palgrave,  "  to  have  been  usually  nominated 
or  elected  by  the  tenantry,  who  chose  him  by  the  presentment  of 
the  Leet  Jury  ;  at  least,  such  was  the  general  custom  after  the  Con- 
quest, a  custom  which  was  recognized  as  a  part  of  the  traditionary 
Common  Law,  and  to  which  we  may  assign  the  same  antiquity  as 
to  the  other  portions  of  the  system."*  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  an  old 
English  writer  contemporary  with  the  fathers  of  New  England,  says, 
"  Constables  are  commonly  made  and  sworn  at  the  Leets, — chosen 
thereto  by  the  homage  :  and  they  keep  that  office  [though  usually 
an  annual  one  in  England]  sometimes  two,  three,  or  four  years, 
more  or  less,  as  the  Parish  doth  agree. "f  The  connection  between 
Parish  and  Manorial  institutions  is  very  close  and  sometimes  confus- 
ing. The  Court  Leet  appears  to  have  been  a  kind  of  popular  po- 
lice court  for  the  town  or  parish  over  which  a  Lord  had  jurisdiction. 
The  Leet  was  the  common  people  sitting  in  judgment  upon  itself; 
it  was  a  judicial  survival  of  the  primitive  Tun  Gemot  or  Town 
Meeting  of  the  Saxon  Tithing.  The  Vestry,  or  Parish  Meeting,  is 
only  another  civic  form  in  which  this  ancient  local  institution  has 
perpetuated  its  vitality.  In  some  Parishes  the  Petty  Constable  was 
chosen  at  the  Vestry  Meeting  instead  of  at  the  Court  Leet,  but  what- 
ever the  local  custom  in  regard  to  the  election  of  the  constable,  he 
was  required  to  warn  and  be  present  at  all  Parish  Meetings,  and, 
before  the  time  of  Archbishop  Laud,  frequently  presided  over  Parish 
deliberations.  "The  Parish  makes  the  Constable,"  said  Selden, 
"  and  when  the  Constable  is  made,  he  governs  the  Parish. "J  There 
can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  Petty  Constable,  like  the  ancient  Sax- 
on Tithingman,  was  once  the  chief  man  of  his  neighborhood. 
Toulmin  Smith  says  the  Constable  "  formerly  took  precedence  of  the 
Churchwardens  in  Parish  affairs.  He  long  ranked  as  the  first  man 
of  the  Parish. "§ 

We  must  regard  the  Parish  and  the  Manor  as  institutions  super- 
imposed upon  primitive  Village  Communities,  Tithings,  Townships, 
Hamlets  (or  Vills)  of  the  Saxons.  Mr.  Pearson  is  inclined  to  be- 
lieve that  "  the  Tithing  in  many  parts  of  England  was  the  basis  of 
the  manor,  the  lord  becoming  the  natural  president  of  the  Tithing 
Court,  as  he  bought  up  the  hind  or  received  the  service  of  the  free- 
holders by  voluntary  transfer."!  The  Church,  too,  built  upon  ex- 
isting foundations.  Pagan  villages  like  Totteridge  (the  ridge  of 
Tuisco  or  Tuto),  Wednesbury  (the  borough  ofWodan),  Torring- 
ton  (the  town  of  Thor),  became  Christian  Parishes.!    Mr.  Pearson, 

*  Palsrave,  English  Commonwealth,  i.  67,  81,  82, 124. 

f  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  Commonwealth  of  England  (1621),  Book  ii.  cap.  25,  quoted  in  Toul- 
min Smith's  "  Parish,"  123. 
+  Selden,  Table  Talk,  "  People." 
S  Toulmin  Smith,  The  Parish,  121. 
\  Pearson,  Historical  Maps  of  England,  52. 
IT  "  The  Parish  in  History,"  6. 


15 

in  the  preface  to  his  Historical  Mnps,  says  the  priests  adopted  the 
secular  divisions  which  they  found  ready  to  their  hands.  lie  has 
shown  in  his  maps  the  territorial  identity  of  many  ancient  Saxon  Tith- 
ings with  modern  English  Parishes  and  Townships.  He  says,  "Ten 
families  constituted  a  tithing,  the  self-governing  unit  of  the  state, 
which  is  now  represented  among  us  by  the  parish,  and  ten  tithings 
were  a  hundred,  whose  court  administered  justice  among  the  little 
communities  themselves."*  Pearson  has  shown  that  the  Hundreds 
of  Devonshire  contain  on  the  average  about  ten  Parishes  each,  a 
strong  argument  for  the  historical  identity  of  these  civic  units  with 
the  original  territorial  Tithings  in  Devonshire  of  which  Palgrave 
speaks. 

Most  important  for  this  line  of  inquiry  is  a  principle  of  the  Com- 
mon Law  which  has  been  repeatedly  enunciated  in  England,  to  the 
effect  that  wherever  there  is  a  Constable  there  is  a  Parish  or  a  Town- 
ship, f  "  A  separate  Constable,"  says  Touhnin  Smith,  "is  an  un- 
questioned criterion  of  the  separate  recognition  of  a  Parish.  The 
fact  of  having  a  Constable  has  always  been  the  necessary  incident  of 
a  Parish  or  Vill. "J  Chief  Justice  Hale  observed  on  this  point: 
"  One  Parish  may  contain  three  vills  :  the  Parish  A  may  contain 
the  vills  A,  1$,  C;  that  is,  when  there  are  distinct  Constables  in 
every  one  of  them  :  but  if  the  Constable  of  A  doth  run  through 
the  whole,  then  is  the  whole  but  one  vill  in  law."§  The  term  Vill  is 
the  Norman  equivalent  of  the  Saxon  Tun,  Town,  or  Tithing. 
Blackstone  says,  "  Tithings,  towns  or  vills  arc  of  the  same  signifi- 
cation in  law. "||  The  Parish  often  embraced  several  of  these  petty 
local  divisions.  In  the  time  of  Edward  IV.  some  Parishes  in  Corn- 
wall are  said  to  have  prospered  so  much  as  to  have  become  divided 
into  as  many  as  twelve  or  fifteen  parts,  each  treated  as  a  \  ill  by  it- 
self. Doubtless  an  original  Tithing  of  inhabitants  took  up  more 
and  more  waste  land  as  circumstances  required,  and,  doubtless,  witli 
an  increasing  population,  colonial  hamlets  sprang  up,  electing  their 
own  Tithingmen,  becoming  independent,  or  remaining  more  or  less 
united  under  the  comprehensive  name  of  some  one  leading  Tithing, 
Town,  Parish  or  Manor,  like  the  Villcs  or  Parishes  composing  a 
New  England  Town. If 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  which  has  never  yet  been  emphasized, 
that  the  origin  of  New  England  towns  is  closely  connected  with 
military  and  constabulary  institutions.  As  the  Saxon  Tithings  and 
Hundreds  began  in  the  local  settlement  of  armed  bands,  keeping 
corporate  watch  and  ward,  so  originated  the  first  "  Wards"  of  IMy- 

*  Pearson,  Hist,  of  Kngland  during  the  early  Middle  Aires,  i-  '-'"")- 

t   fineist.  Self-Government  in  Pngland,  8t;  Fischel,  The  Kngli>h  Constitution,  323. 

+  Touhnin  Smith,  The  Parish,  16,  120. 

I  With  Iron  v.  Rosearriot,  1  Modern  Hep.,  78,  quoted  liy  Touhnin  Smith,  120. 

||   Blackstone,  Commentaries,  i.  111. 

il  The  multiplication  of  Villes  or  Parishes  within  original  town  limits  may  he  seen  in  a 
ease  like  Newton,  now  a  city,  l>ut  once  a  town  embracing  Newton  Outre,  Ncwtouvillo, 
West  Newton,  Newton  Upper  Falls,  Newton  Lower  Palls,  Auburndalc,  Newton  Come;-,  \r. 


1G 

mouth  Colony.  It  should  not  be  ignored  that  the  first  landing  in 
New  England  was  not  that  of  missionaries  or  defenceless  exiles  upon 
Plymouth  Hock,  but  of  armed  men  exploring  Cape  Cod,  "with 
every  man  his  musket,  sword,  and  corslet,  under  the  conduct  of 
Captain  Miles  Standish."  Undoubtedly  the  motives  of  the  invaders 
were  peaceful,  but  they  came  with  arms  in  their  hands,  actually 
equipped  with  "  armor"  and  "  coats  of  malle,"  with  "  curtlaxes  and 
short  swords."  There  are  repeated  references  in  the  Pilgrim  Jour- 
nal to  the  "armor"  which  they  wore.  They  say,  "  We  marched 
through  boughs  and  bushes — which  tore  our  very  armor  in  pieces." 
When  the  explorers  came  upon  a  heap  of  buried  Indian  corn,  the 
record  says  "  we  set  our  men  sentinels  in  a  round  ring,  all  but  two 
or  three,  which  digged  up  the  corn,"  of  which  the  company  took 
away  as  much  as  they  could  carry,  "  for  we  were  so  laden  with  ar- 
mor that  we  could  carry  no  more."  This  corn  the  Pilgrims  after- 
ward paid  for  when  they  found  the  owners,  but  their  original  pro- 
cedure is  very  remarkable.  The  setting  of  a  cordon  of  sentinels  for 
three  men  to  dig  corn  was  a  state  of  armed  peace  worthy  of  the  an- 
cient Saxons.  When  the  explorers  thought  they  were  approaching 
an  Indian  village,  they  confess  "  we  lighted  our  matches  [match- 
locks] and  prepared  ourselves."  Of  course  they  did.  They  were 
Englishmen  believing  in  self-defence.  Every  step  of  their  advance 
was  marked  by  cautious  military  measures.  One  night  a  great 
noise  was  heard.  The  sentinels  called,  "Arm!  Arm!"  The  Pil- 
grims bestirred  themselves  and  shot  off  a  couple  of  muskets  and  the 
noise  ceased.  The  next  day  a  real  attack  was  made  by  the  Indians. 
Again  the  little  company  flew  to  arms.  Captain  Standish  had  a 
flint-lock  ready,  and  "  made  a  shot,"  and  after  him  another.  He 
told  the  rest  "not  to  shoote  till  they  could  take  full  aime."  Some  of 
the  company  ran  out  from  the  barricade  "  with  coats  of  malle  on,  & 
cutlesses  in  their  hands,"  to  get  their  guns  from  the  shallop,  which 
secured  they  "letflye"  among  the  Indians  "and  quickly  stopped 
their  violence."  Thus  "it pleased  God  to  vanquish  our  enemies  and 
give  us  deliverance."* 

*  These  details  and  many  more  of  a  similar  character  may  be  found  in  Young's  Chron- 
icles of  the  Pilgrims  (or  Dcxter's  Mourt's  Relation)  and  in  Bradford's  History  of  Plymouth. 
Plantation. 


[Reprinted  from  the  N.  E.  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register  for  July,  1882.] 


CONSTABLES. 


Iiv   Herbert  13.  Adams. 


I^IIE  first  landing  at  Plymouth,  on  "Forefathers'  Day,"  was 
.  by  one  of  these  exploring  parties.  They  found  there  a  good 
harbor  for  shipping,  and  they  "  inarched  also  into  the  land,"  and 
found  divers  Indian  cornfields,  a  deserted  Village  .Mark,  with  run- 
ning brooks,  altogether  "a  place  very  good  for  situation."  So  the 
explorers,  who  had  been  ranging  up  and  down  Cape  Cod  for  more 
than  a  month,  returned  to  the  Mayflower  which  had  been  anchored 
all  this  time  in  the  harbor  at  Cape  Cod,  but  which  sailed  into  Ply- 
mouth harbor  on  the  2(>th  of  December.  On  the  28th  another 
exploring  party  "  went  a  land  "  and  "marched  along  the  coast  for 
some  seven  or  eight  miles."  Two  days  afterward,  on  the  30th  of 
December,  which  should  be  forever  memorable  as  the  founders'  day 
of  Plymouth  Town  and  Colony,  the  Pilgrims,  "after  landing  and 
viewing  the  places — came  to  a  conclusion  by  most  voices,  to  set — 
on  a  high  ground,  where  there  is  a  great  deal  of  land  cleared." 
There  above  the  open  Mark  rose  the  "great  hill"  upon  which  the 
Pilgrims  proposed  to  plant  their  "ordinance,"  so  as  to  command 
the  surrounding  country.  Fort  Hill,  now  called  Burial  Hill,  was  a 
natural  acropolis,  chosen  for  the  defence  of  the  "town,"  which  was 
to  be  built  beneath  its  shelter.  The;  whole  locality  they  thought 
could  be  easily  "impaled."  This  was  the  very  idea  of  a  Saxon 
Town,  from  Tun  or  Zun,  a  place  hedged  in.  Plymouth  Rock  well 
symbolizes,  in  the  popular  mind,  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  in  the 
place  of  their  settlement,  although  the  final  disembarkatiou  did  not 
3 


18 

occur,  perhaps,  until  March  31,  1621  ;*  but  on  Dec.  30th,  1620,  the 
real  corner-stone  of  Plymouth  and  of  New  England  was  laid  in  the 
"conclusion  by  most  voices  to  set — on  a  high  ground,"  on  the  sea- 
ward slope  of  Fort  Hill,  which  symbolizes  the  Town-idea  of  our 
Forefathers,  a  self-guarded  village  community,  keeping  watch  and 
ward,  and  maintaining  peace  within  its  borders.  There  upon  that 
acropolis  was  afterward  builte  a  fort  with  good  timber,  both 
strong  and  comly,  which  was  of  good  defence,  made  with  a  flate 
rofe  &  batllments,  on  which  their  ordnance  were  mounted,  and  wher 
they  kepte  constante  watch,  espetially  in  time  of  danger.  It  served 
them  allso  for  a  meeting  house,  and  was  fitted  accordingly  for  that 

use."t 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  after  the  assertion  of  the  democratic 
principle  of  "most  voices,"  or  a  majority  vote  in  the  choice  of  a  site 
for  settlement  and  for  the  building  of  a  Town,  the  first  institution 
actually  planted  was  of  a  military  character.  Before  any  Church  Meet- 
ing or  regular  Town  Meeting  on  shore,  before  the  Common  House 
which  first  sheltered  both  was  built,  the  Pilgrims  instituted  what 
they  called  "the  court  of  guard. "J  This  was  a  night  watch  set  by 
those  on  shore,  Monday,  January  4,  1621,  from  fear  of  the  Indians, 
and  for  the  protection  of  the  products  of  the  Pilgrims'  first  day's 
labor  in  felling  timber  and  providing  stuff  for  building.  On  the  fol- 
lowing day  all  able-bodied  men  came  ashore  and  resumed  their  labor, 
but  they  returned  to  the  ship  that  night  leaving  "  some  twenty  to 
keep  the  court  of  guard."  Thus,  ever  on  the  alert,  the  Pilgrims 
proceeded   to   build  their  town  "  in  two  rows  of  houses   for  more 

*  1621,  March  21  (31),  "  a  fine  warm  day. — This  day  with  much  ado,  we  got  our  carpen- 
ter, that  had  been  long  sick  of  the  scurvy,  to  fit  our  shallop  to  fetch  all  from  aboard." 
Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,  190. 

It  may  be  that  this  passage  refers  solely  to  movable  goods,  and  not  at  all  to  passengers 
yet  on  board  ;  but  the  Journal  of  Jan.  29  (Feb.  8)  says  on  that  day,  "  Both  the  lonsr-boat 
and  the  shallop  brought  our  common  goods  on  shore"  (see  Young,  170).  And  yet  after 
this  date  we  find  Pilgrims  still  on  board,  for  the  Journal  of  Feb.  4  (14)  says,  "  though  we 
rid  in  a  very  good  harbor,  yet  we  were  in  danger,  because  nur  ship  was  light,  the  goods 
taken  out  and  she  unballasted."  It  is  probable  that  some  of  the  pilgrim  band  did  not  land 
as  early  as  is  commonly  supposed,  for  Bradford  (92)  speaks  of  "  schuch  ot  ye  passengers  as 
were  yet  abord,"  who  showed  great  kindness  to  the  sailors  when  they  in  their  turn  began 
to  fall  ill.  When  the  thatch  of  the  Common  House  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  the  24th  of 
January,  Bradford  (100)  says  "  some  were  faine  to  retire  abord  for  shilter."  There  was  a 
constant  going  to  and  fro  between  ship  and  shore  throughout  the  winter,  the  men  remain- 
ing on  board  for  days  during  stormy  weather.  Probably  there  never  was  any  general  dis- 
embarkation upon  Plymouth  Rock  at  any  one  time,  whether  on  the  21st  of  December, 
when  the  Mayflower  was  far  away  at  Cape  Cod,  or  on  the  4th  of  January,  according  to  the 
view  advanced  by  S.  H.  Gay,  in  his  article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  November,  1881, 
"  When  did  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  land  at  Plymouth  ?" 

t  Bradford,  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  126.  It  is  very  interesting  that  the  Ply- 
mouth Church  was  first  sheltered  in  the  Common  House  and  afterward  in  a  Fort  surmounted 
by  six  cannon.  So  fully  were  the  Pilgrims  imbued  with  the  martial  spirit  that  they  actually 
marched  to  church,  assembling  "  by  beat  of  drum,  each  with  his  musket  or  firelock,  in  front 
of  the  captain's  door."  They  marched  up  Fort  Hill  three  abreast.  "  Behind  comes  the  Gover- 
nor, in  a  long  robe;  beside  him,  on  the  right  hand,  comes  the  preacher  with  his  cloak  on, 
and  on  the  left  the  captain  with  his  side-arms  and  cloak  on,  and  with  a  small  cane  in  his 
hand,  and  so  they  march  in  good  order,  and  each  sets  his  arms  down  near  him.  Thus  they 
are  constantly  on  their  guard  night  and  day."  Letter  of  De  Rasieres,  a  Dutch  officer  from 
New  Netherlands,  who  visited  New  Plymouth  in  1627.  See  Collections  of  New  York  Hist. 
Society,  New  Series,  i.  362,  or  Russell's  Pilgrim  Memorials,  143. 

J  Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,  169. 


19 

safety."  But  their  first  building  was  a  Common  House  for  a  "gen- 
erall  randevoze."  Here  the  first  Church  .Meeting  on  land  was 
held  January  31,  1G21.  Here  was  held  the  first  regular  Town 
Meeting  in  New  England,  February  27,  "  for  the  establishing  of 
military  orders."  Miles  Standish  was  chosen  Captain,  and  was  given 
"authority  of  command  in  affairs."*  This  was  the  first  strictly  local 
election  in  New  England.  It  occurred  more  than  a  month  before 
the  election  of  Carver  as  Governor  of  Plymouth.  To  be  sure  Car- 
ver had  been  "confirmed"  Governor  on  board  the  Mayflower  in 
the  harbor  at  Cape  Cod,  November  21,  1G20,  immediately  after  the 
signing  of  the  Compact,  but  Governors  and  Assistants  had  been 
chosen  for  each  ship  "  to  order  ye  people  by  ye  way, "J  before  the 
Colony  set  sail  from  Southampton.  It  is  true  John  Carver  was  actu- 
ally Governor  when  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth  ;  but  it  is  also 
true  that  Miles  Standish  was  at  that  time  Captain,  and  had  long  been 
recognized  as  such  in  the  conduct  of  explorations.  The  point  is,  that, 
in  the  actual  foundation  of  the  Colony  at  Plymouth,  the  choice  of  a 
military  officer  to  command  in  affairs  antedated  the  choice  of  civil 
officers,  just  as  the  "court  of  guard"  antedated  the  General  Court 
or  Town  Meeting,  in  the  strictest  meaning  of  those  terms,  although 
of  course  the  "common  sense  of  most"  was  the  actual  basis  even 
of  these  martial  institutions  for  defence.  The  salus  publica  was 
the  foundation  principle  of  Plymouth  as  of  all  civil  society. 

Immediately  after  the  election  of  Standish,  the  popular  assembly 
was  broken  up  by  the  appearance  of  two  savages  on  Strawberry  Hill 
or  Watson's  Hill.  The  Townsmen  armed  at  once  and  sent  their 
headman,  Captain  Standish,  accompanied  by  Stephen  Hopkins, 
across  the  intervening  Town  Brook  to  parley  with  the  Indians. 
From  this  time  on,  for  many  years,  Captain  Standish  served  as  Chief 
Messenger  for  the  Town  Meeting,  General  Court  or  Folkmoot  of 
Plymouth.  He  was  chief  spokesman  in  parleys  with  the  Indians. 
He  demanded  of  the  fishermen  at  Cape  Ann  the  restoration  of  Ply- 
mouth property.  lie  arrested  Morton  at  Merry  Mount,  and  levied 
the  expense  of  sending  the  rogue  back  to  England  upon  Cape  Ann 
and  other  local  plantations  then  existing  in  New  England.  He  ar- 
rested Indians  and  kept  them  in  custody.  lie  protected  the  lite  of 
one  Indian  siniplv  because  he  was  "a  messenger,"  it  being  against 
"  the  hni'  <>f  units — in  Europe  to  lay  violent  hands  on  any  such." 
He  exercised  the  right  of  life  and  death  over  Indians  beyond  Ply- 
mouth borders,  for  in  Massachusetts,  at  Mr.  Weston's  feeble  planta- 
tion, where  certain  treacherous  savages  were  plotting  the  destruction 
of  all  the  settlements,  Standish  and  his  men  shut  up  the  leaders  in  a 
cabin  and  there  killed  them,  "  striving  to  the  last."  Other  Indians 
were  killed  or  hanged  by  his  orders.  He  returned  home  to  Ply- 
mouth, says  the  Pilgrim   record,   "  in  safety,    blessed    be   God!   and 

*  Young's  Clironich-softlic  Pilgrims,  180. 
t  Bradford,  Hist,  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  r>8. 


20 

brought  the  head  of  Wituwamat  with  him,"  which  was  "brought  to 
the  fort  and  there  set  up."  There  is  something  old  English  about 
this  method  of  procedure.  It  looks  like  primitive  martial  law. 
During  the  absence  of  Standish  an  Indian  had  come  into  Town  who 
was  suspected  of  being  a  spy.  By  order  of  the  Governor  he  was 
arrested,  taken  to  the  Fort,  "  locked  in  a  chain  to  a  staple  in  the 
court  of  guard,  and  there  kept,"  being  told  that  he  must  remain  con- 
tent "till  the  return  of  Captain  Standish  from  Massachusetts."* 

What  shall  we  call  this  Captain  of  Plymouth's  Guard,  this  Keep- 
er of  the  Town's  Fort  or  Castle,  this  leader  of  expeditions,  this  or- 
ganizer of  militia  by  "squadrons  or  companies,"  appointing  his  own 
officers,  holding  "  a  general  muster  or  training,"!  this  Captain-Gen- 
eral who  became  in  1645  the  head  of  a  military  commission  appoint- 
ed by  the  four  United  Colonies  of  New  England,  but  who  still  "  con- 
descended" J  to  review  the  local  militia  of  Plymouth,  this  Marshal 
exercising  the  right  of  life  and  death  in  the  conduct  of  Indian  cam- 
paigns, this  Martinet  of  a  little  village,  where  the  first  offence  was 
John  Billington's  "  contempt  of  the  Captain's  lawful  command  with 
opprobrious  speeches,"  the  offender  being  therefor  "  convented  be- 
fore the  whole  company — and  adjudged  to  have  his  neck  and  heels 
tied  together"?  §  What  shall  we  call  the  man  under  whose  direc- 
tion all  such  penalties  must  have  been  executed  in  early  Plymouth? 
Surely  not  a  mere  Petty  Constable,  not  simply  a  Captain  of  the  local 
Militia,  for  he  had  also  authority  of  command  in  public  affairs.  He 
was  a  colonial  officer  of  the  martial  type,  sometimes  carrying  the 
law  in  his  own  person  like  an  ancient  Roman  prastor,  an  Earl 
Marshal  or  a  Lord  High  Constable  of  England.  Let  us  call  Miles 
Standish  the  first  martial  representative  in  New  England,  as  Miles 
of  Gloucester  was  the  first  representative  in  Old  England,  of  the 
iron  hand  of  sovereign  constabulary  power,  whence  the  " lower  con- 
Btableship  was  drawn  and  fetched, — as  it  were,  a  very  finger  of  that 
hand." 

In  the  year  1632  it  was  ordered  by  the  General  Court  "  in  re- 
gard of  our  dispersion  so  far  asunder,  and  the  inconveniency  that 
may  befall,"  that  every  inhabitant  provide  himself  a  sufficient  musket 
or  other  serviceable  piece   for  war,  also  with  ammunition.  ||      Such 

*  Standish's  Expedition  against  the  Indians  of  "Wessagusset,  in  Young's  Chronicles  of 
the  Pilgrims,  336-45.  The  above  details  have  been  gathered  from  Moun's  Relation  and 
from  Bradford's  History  of  the  Plymouth  Plantation. 

t  Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,  284. 

J  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Second  Series,  vol.  x.  60,  "  Notes 
on  Duxbury." 

$  Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,  199.  This  being  "the  first  offence  "  committed 
in  Plymouth,  it  was  pardoned  upon  the  culprit  humbling  himself;  but  soon  after  two  ser- 
vants, who  had  fought  a  duel,  were  adjudged  to  the  above  Old  English  penalty,  which  was 
duly  inflicted.  John  Billington  was  afterward,  in  1630,  hung  for  murder,  being  tried  and 
executed  by  due  forms  of  law.  See  Hutchinson,  Hist,  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  ii.  413.  The 
execution  must  have  been  under  the  supervision  of  Captain  Miles  Standish,  for  there  was, 
at  that  time,  no  other  High  Sheriff  or  Constable  in  PIvmouth  Colony.  The  first  differentia- 
tion of  these  offices  did  not  occur  until  1634. 

||  Plymouth  Col.  Records,  i.  6;  Laws,  14,  31.  For  "Public  Armcs,"  see  Laws,  51,  1C5; 
"  Jowncs  Armes,"  181.     Town  Armor ! 


21 

requirements,  involving  constabulary  inspections  and  the  evolution 
of  a  system  of  penalties  for  default  in  armor,  carry  us  back  to  the 
ancient  Statute  of  Winchester,  whereby  every  man  in  the  kingdom 
was  obliged  to  have  in  his  house  defensive  armor  for  keeping  the 
peace;  or,  to  the  still  earlier  Assize  of  Arms  (1181  )  whereby  the 
freemen  of  every  community  were  to  have  each  a  doublet  of  mail, 
a  head-piece  of  iron,  and  a  spear.*  New  England  is  linked  to  Old 
England  by  an  iron  chain  of  martial  habits  and  martial  institutions. 
Captain  Miles  Stnndish  and  the  Town  Constables  of  Plymouth  Col- 
ony are  as  much  links  in  this  chain  connecting  the  beginnings  of  our 
Towns  with  the  Parishes  of  the  mother  country  as  if  these  men  had 
come  over  to  New  England  with  the  Town  Armor  and  Parish  Rec- 
ords of  their  native  hamlets.  In  fact,  the  Pilgrims  entered  New 
England  in  coats  of  mail,  armed  also  with  the  Town  idea  and  the 
Common  Law.  "There  already — ay  in  the  Mayflower's  cabin," 
said  Rufus  Choate,  "was  representative  government.  There  already 
was  the  legalized  and  organized  town,  that  seminary  and  central 
point  and  exemplification  of  elementary  democracy. "f 

By  the  law  of  England,  the  criterion  of  the  existence  of  a  Parish 
or  Township  is  the  presence  of  a  local  Constable.  It  is  worth  while 
to  apply  this  criterion  to  a  study  of  the  genesis  of  Towns  and  Par- 
ishes in  New  England.  We  do  not  suppose  that  this  has  always  been 
a  conscious  standard  for  legislative  action  in  the  recognition  of  towns 
or  for  the  actual  determination  of  Town  or  Parish  units,  but  we 
claim  that  without  a  Constable,  or  some  power  representing  the  cor- 
porate responsibility  of  the  community  for  the  preservation  of  the 
local  peace,  a  Town  would  be  an  impossibility.  There  have  been 
Towns  in  New  England  without  Selectmen,  without  Ministers,  with- 
out a  Church  or  a  Common  School,  but  theie  never  was  a  Town 
without  a  Constable,  lie  is  the  sine  qua  non  of  an  organized  Par- 
ish or  Township,  and  that  by  the  authority  of  the  Common  Law, 
than  which  there  is  no  greater  authority  in  the  history  of  English 
institutions.  Miles  Standish  was  practically  the  first  Constable  of 
Plymouth.  lb;  was  the  first  officer  chosen  with  "command  in 
affairs."  There  is  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of  anv  other  Consta- 
ble at  Plymouth  until  flan.  1,  Ki.*54,  when  Joshua  Pratt  was  "cho- 
sen to  the  office  of  messenger  and  constable  tor  Plvmouth,  and  sworne 
to  faithfulnes  in  the  same. "J  The  Constable  of  Plymouth  in  his  ca- 
pacity of  Messenger,  appears  to  have  been  a  kind  of  High  Sheriff".  In 
l(i.">7  we  find  a  Plymouth  man  sworn  Messenger  for  the  whole  Gov- 
ernment and  Constable  for  the  Town  of  Plvmouth.  The  duties  of 
Messenger,  according  to  the  earliest  law  upon  the  subject,  were  to  be 
ready  at  the  Governor's  command  or  anv  of  the  As>i.»tants'  warning, 
to  doe  such   service  as  shall  be  appointed  for   the  good  of  the  seve- 

*  Stul.hs's  SHi'ct  Charters,  l.'i-t. 

t  LilV  anil  Writiturs  ot'Riifii*  Clioati',  i.  :)>'>. 

I  t'lyiitouth  Col.  Itecurds,  ;  21. 


22 

ral  Colonies,*  within  this  Government,"  and  to  be  esteemed  a  pub- 
lic officer  for  the  execution  of  warrants  in  any  part  thereof.  The 
use  of  the  plural  form  "  Colonies  "  as  synonymous  with  Towns  or 
Plantations  within  the  Government  of  Plymouth,  is  curious  and  sug- 
gestive. As  Constable  for  the  special  "  ward  "  of  Plymouth,  this 
officer  was  to  have  charge  of  the  region  from  Jones's  River  south- 
ward, as  far  as  any  inhabit.  He  was  to  serve  as  "  Jaylor  to 
keep  such  as  shall  be  committed."  He  was  to  execute  punishment 
and  penalties,  and  to  give  warning  of  marriages  approved  by  civil 
authority.  He  was  furthermore  to  act  as  Sealer  of  Weights  and 
Measures,  and  as  Surveyor  of  land,  according  to  government  orders. 
In  his  oath  the  Meesenger  swore  loyalty  to  the  King,  and  promised 
to  promote  "  the  welfare  of  the  severall  Colonies  w,hin  this  Gov- 
ernment of  New  Plymouth,"  and  as  "Constable  in  the  ward  of 
New  Plymouth,"  to  see  that  his  Majesty's  peace  be  not  broken. f 
Here,  therefore,  in  the  hands  of  one  local  officer,  we  see  a  bundle  of 
powers  derived  from  the  Petty  Constable  of  the  English  Parish,  the 
High  Constable  of  the  Hundred,  and  the  High  Sheriff  of  the 
County. 

On  the  very  day  Joshua  Pratt  was  chosen  Constable  and  Messen- 
ger for  Plymouth,  Christopher  Wads  worth  was  "chosen  constable  for 
the  ward  of  bownded  between  Jones  River  &  Green's  Harbour,  and 
to  seme  the  King  in  that  office  for  the  space  of  one  whole  yeare  & 
to  enter  upon  the  place  with  the  Govr  elect.  "J  In  like  manner  and 
at  the  same  time,  Anthony  Amiable  was  chosen  Constable  for  the 
Ward  of  Scituate.  The  omission  of  the  name  Duxbury  in  the  first 
instance  is  interesting,  for  the  omission  implies  that  the  locality 
bounded  by  Jones's  River  and  Green's  Harbor  was  literally  a  Ward 
of  Plymouth,  although  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  identity  of 
the  place  with  Duxbury,  which  name,  according  to  Justin  Winsor, 
was  bestowed  in  compliment  to  Standish,  who  settled  in  the  above 
region,  and  whose  ancestral  acres  in  England  were  known  as  Dukes- 
berry.  M  As  early  as  1630,"  says  Winsor,  "for  facilities  of  pastur- 
age and  better  planting,  lands  had  been  occupied  in  Duxbury,  the 
people  returning-  to  Plymouth  in  the  winter  for  better  housing  and 
ease  of  attending  worship. '§  In  the  Plymouth  Colony  Records, 
under  the  date  1632,  we  find  a  formal  agreement  on  the  part  of 
Captain  Standish,  John  Alden,  Jonathan  Brewster  and  Thomas 
Prince,  to  move  back  into  Plymouth  for  the  winter  time,  in  order 
that  they  may  the  better  repair  to  the  worship  of  God.j|  In  1634 
"  a  palisade  was  ordered  to  be  made  beyond  the  creek  at  Eagle's 
Nest,  where  Standish,  Brewster  and  Pay  body  lived,  "1[  and  that  same 
year  a  Constable's  Ward  was  instituted  in  the  above  district. 

*  Plvmouth  Laws,  18.  f  Ibid,  19. 

t  Plymouth  Col.  Records,  i.  21. 

§  Winsor,  Historical  Account  of  Plymouth  Colony  and  County.  5,  in  Plymouth  County 
Atlas,  G.  H.  Walker  &  Co.,  Boston,  1878. 
i|  Plymouth  Col.  Records,  Book  of  Deeds,  6. 
<ft  Collections  of  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  Second  Series,  x.  68. 


23 

The  term  "Ward,"  first  used  in  designating  Duxbury  as  a  civic 
unit,  is  a  very  important  connecting  link  between  the  Parish  insti- 
tutions of  Old  and  New  England.  Wards  are  familiar  enough  in 
modern  city  politics,  but  historically  City  Wards  were  derived  from 
Hundreds,  each  Ward  being  under  a  Hundredes  Euldor  of  Alder- 
mannus  Ihmdreti,  and  each  Ward  having  subdivisions  called 
Tithings  or  Precincts."*  But  Old  English  Parishes  had  also  their 
Wards  and  Precincts,  which  were  often  synonymous  with  Villa  or 
Townships.  The  Parish  Ward  was  simply  a  Constable's  Beat  or 
District.  The  term  Ward  is  derived  from  the  Saxon  Weard  or 
Guard,  and  is  closely  connected  with  the  ancient  system  of  Watch 
and  Ward,  from  which  our  modern  police  system  has  evolved.  Both 
Watch  and  Ward  were  under  the  direction  of  a  local  Tithingman 
or  Constable.  The  Ward  was  kept  by  day  and  the  Watch  by  night. 
By  the  Assize  of  Arms  (1"2")2),  for  enforcing  Watch  and  Ward, 
there  were  to  be  appointed  in  every  Vill  or  Parish  four  or  six  men, 
according  to  the  size  of  the  place,  who  should  watch  throughout  the 
night  from  sunset  to  sunrise,  and  if  any  stranger  attempted  to  pass 
them,  they  were  to  arrest  and  detain  him  until  the  morning,  when, 
if  he  could  give  a  good  account  of  himself,  he  was  set  free,  but  if 
he  proved  a  suspicious  character,  he  was  handed  over  to  the  Tun 
Gerefa  or  Town  Constable.  Jf  strangers  would  not  allow  them- 
selves to  be  arrested,  the  aforesaid  watchman  levied  the  Hue  and 
Cry  upon  them,  that  is,  they  raised  the  Town  and  pursued  the  fugi- 
tives with  shouts  and  cries  from  Parish  to  Parish,  until  they  were 
finally  captured,  cum  clamore  et  hutesio  (Hue  and  Cry)  de  cilia 
in  villain,  donee  capiantur.\ 

The  ancient  Plymouth  records  contain  frequent  allusion  to  "those 
on  Duxborrough  Side."  In  old  English  usage,  a  ''  >\^\v  "  was 
something  more  than  the  name  would  seem  to  imply  :  it  was  ;i  dis- 
trict, an  outlying  quarter  of  the  Town  or  Parish,  but  frequently  an 
organic  part  of  the  same,  like  Fulham  Syde  of  Fill  ham  Parish.  The 
Syde  hail  its  Sydcinan,^  whose  duties  were  much  the  same  as  those 
of  a  Tithingman  or  Petty  Constable.  A  Syde  without  a  local  officer 
was  only  a  geographical  idea.  A  Sydeman  made  the  place  a  civic 
community.  The  term  Side  is  not  uncommon  in  the  Towns  of  New 
England  ;  for  example,  East  Side  in  the  Town  of  Woburn.  The  name 
frequently  occurs  as  the  designation  of  a  particular  neighborhood  as 
lying  on  this  or  that  side  of  the  Town,  just  as  we  say  "  North  End" 
or  "  North  Part."     Vills,  like  Sides  in  New  England,  are  frequently 

*  Pnl^rnvc,  Knslisli  Commonwealth,  i.  200 ;  Thorpe,  Ancient  Law-  and  Institutes  of 
England,  ii.,  Glossary,  "  Hundredes  l-'.aldor."  According  to  Stul.hs,  u<  tin  North  of  V.wf.- 
lanil  '•  the  shire:*  arc  divided  int..  Wards,  and  to  the  south  into  Hundreds."  Const.  Hist, 
i.  96. 

t  Stubhs's  S(  let-t  Charters,  .".71 .  See  also  Statute  of  Winchester.  l'JSo,  for  similar  regula- 
lations  conecmiiif:  Watch  and  Ward,  Stuidis's  Select  Charters,  47-1-4. 

I  In  the  4  .lac.  I.,  cap.  v.,  we  find  penalties  prescribed  lor  lie  repression  of  drunkenness, 
and  the  presentment  of  offenders  is  made  one  of  the  duties  of  "  CuUst.ddcs,  Churchward- 
ens, HeuUboroughs,  Tithingmen,  Aleeunners  and  Sydcmcii." 


24 

mere  localities  without  any  organic  life,  although  the  Vill  is  usually 
more  personal,  for  example,  Iiellogg\'\l\e,  whereas  the  Side  is  more 
geographical,  taking  its  name  usually  from  some  point  of  compass. 
But  a  Side  or  a  Vill  without  a  Constable  has  no  civic  existence  in 
the  Common  Law. 

We  must  regard  Duxbury  Side  as  a  Vill  or  Parish  of  Plymouth 
until  June  7,  1637,  when  it  was  recognized  as  art  independent,  self- 
governing  "  township  "*  by  the  General  Court.  A  church,  or  chapel 
of  easement,  was  established  on  Duxbury  Side  as  early  as  1632,  but 
the  existence  of  a  Church  does  not  constitute  a  Parish  according  to 
the  Common  Law.  The  Parish  is  a  civil  institution  both  in  origin 
and  history.  The  only  fact  which  gave  Duxbury,  in  1634,  a  legal 
existence  as  a  Vill  or  Parish  within  the  Town  or  larger  Parish  of 
Plymouth  was  the  election  in  a  Plymouth  Town  Meeting  of  a  Con- 
stable for  that  Ward.  As  a  Church-society  Duxbury  enjoyed  nei- 
ther unity  nor  pastoral  headship  for  several  years  after  her  first  set- 
tlement. Many  of  her  leading  citizens  continued  to  attend  church 
at  Plymouth,  and  there  was  no  regular  minister  in  Duxbury  until 
1636.f  But  the  presence  or  settlement  of  a  minister  does  not  make 
a  Parish.  In  point  of  law  and  in  point  of  fact,  however,  Duxbury 
was  a  Parish  unit  from  the  moment  Christopher  Wadsworth  was  cho- 
sen Constable  for  a  Ward  J  of  Plymouth  bounded  by  Jones  .River 
and  Green's  Harbor. 

For  several  years  after  1634  Constables  for  the  Wards  of  Duxbury 
and  Scituate  continued  to  be  chosen  in  Plymouth  Town  Meeting. 
For  instance,  it  was  agreed  January  1,  1635,  that  Christopher 
Wadsworth  and  Anthony  Annable,  Constables  of  Duxbury  and  Scit- 
uate, should  continue  in  their  places  another  year.§  The  practice 
of  electing  Constables  in  the  presence  of  all  the  freemen  of  the  colo- 
ny appears  to  have  gone  on  lor  several  years  after  the  recognition 
of  Duxbury  and  Scituate  as  independent  self-governing  Towns,  but 
we  are  inclined  to  suspect  that,  from  the  very  beginning  of  constab- 
ulary elections,  the  candidate  was  nominated  by  the  neighborhood 
or  precinct  which  he  was  appointed  to  govern.  In  1645  we  find 
"  constables  chosen  by  the  severall  townships  and  presented  to  this 
court  and  sworn. "||  Plymouth  and  Scituate  then  had  two  Consta-. 
bles  each;  Duxbury,  Sandwich,  Marshfield,  Barnstable,  Yarmouth, 

*  Plymouth  Col.  Records,  i.  62.  Cf.  ii.  31,  for  an  interesting  case  where  "  eich  side  of  the 
towne,  viz.  the  Eele  Kiuer  and  Joames  Riuer  shall  for  eich  side  bring  six  musketts  wth 
shott,  pouder,  and  the  towne  of  Plymouth  other  six  euery  Lord's  day  to  the  meeting  with 
their  swords  and  furniture  to  euery  piece,  ready  for  service  if  need  require." 

t  Clark,  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Congregational  Churches  in  Massachusetts,  15.  Win- 
sor,  History  of  Duxbury,  171. 

J  '1  he  use  of  the  term  "  Ward  "  for  a  germinant  town  was  very  general  throughout  Ply- 
mouth Colony.  Constables  were  always  sworn  to  serve  in  such  and  such  a  Ward  (Laws, 
10),  always  corresponding  to  a  local  settlement  or  Plantation ;  for  example,  "the  ward  of 
Barnstable  (Plym.  Col.  rtec,  i.  137)  One  of  the  most  interesting  cases  is  the  "  Ward  of  the 
River  Kcnnebecke  "  (iii.  .59),  the  Pilgrim  trading-post.  This  ward  was  something  like  the- 
Constables'  Beats  along  the  rivers  of  Alabama. 

§  Plymouth  Col.  Records,  i.  32.  ||  Ibid,  ii.  83. 


25 

Taunton,  Rehoboth,  each  one  Constable.  In  1052  the  Constables 
of  Sandwich,  Yarmouth  and  Eastham  were  allowed  "to  be  sworne 
at  home."*  Thus  gradually  the  Towns  of  Plymouth  Colony  settled 
back  into  old  English  Parish  usages  of  electing  and  qualifying  their 
own  Petty  Constables,  just  as  these  same  towns  gradually  became 
known  under  good  old  English  names,  although  for  the  most  part 
planted  in  old  Indian  localities,  and  at  first  designated  as  such. 

The  process  of  reproducing  the  Parish  institutions  of  the  mother 
country  could  not  have  been  entirely  an  unconscious  one  with  the 
settlers  of  Plymouth  Colony.  Constabulary  oaths  expressing  loy- 
alty to  the  King  prove  that  the  colonists  still  felt  themselves  Eng- 
lish subjects  and  under  the  sovereignty  of  English  law.  The  cor- 
respondences between  the  local  institutions  of  Plymouth  and  those  of 
old  England,  are  too  striking  to  admit  of  other  interpretation  than 
conscious  imitation.  In  the  prefaces  to  their  Law  books,  the  Ply- 
mouth legislators  confess  that  they  did  not  reject  such  of  the  laws  of 
their  native  country  "as  would  conduce  vnto  the  good  and  grouth  of 
soe  weak  a  begining — as  any  Impartial!  eye  Not  forstaled  with  pre- 
judice may  ezely  deserne."'!'  The  Plymouth  lawgivers  even  re-insti- 
tuted Tithings  for  the  government  of  the  Indians  by  a  system  of 
Frank  Pledge.  As  the  conquered  Saxons,  living  under  Norman 
lords,  were  held  to  right  in  their  own  villages  by  a  system  of  Ten- 
mentale  under  their  own  elected  Tithingmen,  so  the  Indian  villagers 
were  bound  to  keep  the  peace  in  groups  of  ten,  each  group  under 
the  charge  of  an  Indian  Tithingman,  whose  duty  it  was  to  "  take 
the  inspection,  care,  and  oversight  of  his  nine  men  and  present  theire 
faults  [and]  Misdemenors  to  the  overseer, "|  who  was  appointed  by 
the  Governor.  The  white  overseer  and  the  Indian  Tithingmen  ap- 
pointed Indian  Constables,  holding  office  for  a  year,  whose  duty  it 
was  to  attend  the  courts  kept  among  the  Indians  for  the  purpose  of 
"  ciuilliseing  "§  them,  and  to  execute  the  warrants  of  the  Overseer.  If 
an  Indian  servant  of  a  white  man  ran  away  into  an  Indian  neigh- 
borhood, the  Indians  with  whom  he  took  refuge  were  bound  by  law 
to  give  immediate  "notice  of  the  said  Runaway  to  the  Indian  Con- 
stable who  shall  imediatly  apprehend  such  Indian  servant  ;  and 
cany  him  or  her  before  the  Overseer  or  next  Majestrate,  whoe  shall 
cause  such  servants  to  be  whipt ;  and  sent  home  by  the  Constable  to 
his  or  her  master  whoe  shall  pay  said  Constable  for  his  service." || 

It  was   required   by  law  that  "  in  every  Constableriek  there   be   a 
paire  of  stocks  and   a  whipping  post  erected.      Also  a  cage  wn,  shall 
be  of  competent  strength  to  detainc  a  prisoner.  &  these  to  be  erected 
in  such  places  as   shall   be   thought   meet  by  the    severall   neighbor 
hoods  where  they  concerne,  vpon  the  penalty  of  X  s.  lor  any  towne- 

•  Plymouth  Col.  Records,    iii.  8.  f  Ibid,  Laws,  72. 

+  IM<1.  253. 

$  Ibid,  '2.'}'.t.    Courts  were  held  also  among  the  Indians  of  Massachusetts.    Mas.-.  Col. 
Hoc,  ii.  KS8. 
||  Ibid,  2.55. 

4 


26 

ship  wch  shalbe  defectiue  herein."*  Such  local  institutions  as  the 
Town  Cage,t  the  Parish  Stocks,  the  Whipping  Post,  and  a  Consta- 
ble to  superintend  whippings,  cannot  be  explained  as  indigenous  to 
New  England,  for  they  are  the  common  inheritance  of  all  English 
colonies  in  America.  One  Parish  custom  in  particular  clearly  allies 
the  Towns  of  Plymouth  Colony  with  Old  English  Parishes,  and  that 
is  the  method  of  dealing  with  Tramps.  By  a  law  of  1661,  reenacted 
in  1663,  it  was  ordered  by  the  General  Court  of  Plymouth,  that 
"  if  any  person  or  persons  shall  come  into  this  Gouvernment,  that 
according  to  the  law  of  England  may  justly  be  accounted  vaga- 
bonds ;  the  Marshall  or  the  Constable  of  the  Towne  wherevnto  they 
come,  shall  apprehend  him  or  them  ;  and  vpon  examination  soe  ap- 
peering  ;  hee  shall  whip  them  or  cause  them  to  be  whipt  with  rodds  ; 
soe  as  it  exceed  not  fifteen  stripes  ;  and  to  give  him  or  them  a  passe 
to  depart  the  Gouvernment,  and  if  any  such  person  or  persons  shal- 
bee  found  without  theire  passe ;  or  not  acteing  according  therevnto 
they  shalbee  punished  again  as  formerly. "$ 

The  above  regulation  was  first  revived  at  Plymouth,  not  by  Stat- 
ute but  as  a  part  of  English  law,  for  as  early  as  1641  we  find  that 
Jonathan  Hatch  was  taken  as  a  vagrant,  and  for  his  misdemeanors 
was  censured  to  be  whipt,  &  sent  from  constable  to  constable  to 
Leiftennant  Davenport  at  Salem. "§  How  minutely  this  procedure 
corresponded  with  old  English  Parish  usage  may  be  seen  by  exam- 
ination of  Lambard's  Duties  of  Constables,  where  it  is  said  to  be 
incumbent  upon  the  Constable,  Headborough,  or  Tithingman  of  the 
Hundred,  Parish  or  Tithing,  to  arrest  every  Rogue  and  publicly 
whip  him  upon  the  bare  back  until  it  be  bloody,  and  then  send  him 
from  Parish  to  Parish,  by  the  officers  of  the  same,  until  the  Rogue 
come  to  the  place  where  he  was  born  ;  but  if  that  place  is  not  known, 
then  to  the  Parish  where  the  Rogue  last  dwelt  for  a  whole  year ; 
and  if  that  also  is  unknown,  then  to  the  Parish  through  which  the 
Rogue  last  passed  without  receiving  a  flogging.  ||  Such  a  vigorous 
policy  would  probably  exterminate  the  modern  Tramp. 

The  law  against  vagabonds  was  applied  with  considerable  severity 
to  strolling  Indians.  It  was  enacted  by  the  General  Court  that  no 
Indian  should  remove  from  one  place  or  "  plantation "  to  another 
without  a  permit  in  writing  from  his  "  overseer,"  declaring  whither 
he  was  going,  for  what  reason,  and  how  long  he  was  going  to  stay. 
If  any  Indian  was  found  without  his  pass,  he  was  arrested  by  the 
Constable  of  the  place  into  which  he  came,  taken  before  "the  next 
overseer,"  who  made  the  Indian  pay  a  fine  of  five  shillings  "  or  be 

*  Plymouth  Col.  Records,  Laws,  p.  11,  95  circa  1636. 

t  Cages  were  set  up  in  the  market  places  of  the  larger  towns  in  Massachusetts.  Mass. 
Rec,  v.  133. 

t  Plymouth  Col.  Records,  Laws,  206. 

$  Plymouth  Col.  Records,  ii.  36. 

||  Lambard,  Duties  of  Constables,  45-6.  Compare  with  Lambard's  Eirenarcha,  204.  The 
English  Statutes  are  full  of  legislation  regarding  Rogues,  Vagabonds,  and  Sturdy  Beggars, 
e.  g.  7  James  I.  cap.  4. 


27 

whipt  and  sent  home  to  his  owne  place."  If  there  was  no  local 
"overseer"  of  Indians  in  the  place  whither  the  vagabond  came,  then 
"the  English  Constable  in  that  Towne  "  discharged  the  above  office.* 
If  Indians  were  found  drunk  in  any  "Township,"  they  were  taken 
by  "  the  Constable  of  the  Towne  and  sett  in  the  stockes."f  By  ano- 
ther law,  the  penalty  for  the  first  offence  was  five  shillings  "  or  be 
whipt;"  for  the  second,  ten  shillings  "or  be  whipt;  and  soe  for 
euery  time  any  of  them  shalbe  convicted  of  drunkenes  before  any 
Court,  Majestrate,  ouerseer,  tithingman  or  English  Constable. "J 
The  judicial  functions  of  old  English  Parish  officers  are  here  revived. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  the  first  Selectmen  of  Plymouth  Colony  had 
judicial  duties. 

The  close  connection  between  Petty  Constables  and  Tithingmen 
in  Plymouth  Colony  is  evident  from  the  coexistence  of  these  institu- 
tions in  the  regulation  of  Indian  Tithings  and  Indian  villages,  and 
from  the  fact  that,  in  early  Plymouth  Towns,  Constables  discharged 
the  Sunday  duties,  which,  in  later  times,  were  usually  associated 
with  the  office  of  Tithingman,  although,  as  we  have  elsewhere 
shown, §  the  Tithingman  in  early  New  England  was  by  no  means 
a  mere  Sunday  Constable  or  ecclesiastical  whipper-in,  but  the 
head- man  of  a  neighborhood  of  at  least  ten  families,  as  in  Saxon 
England.  From  the  laws  of  Plymouth  Colony  we  learn  that  great 
abuses  had  arisen  in  sundry  Towns  by  reason  of  certain  persons  be- 
having themselves  profanely  on  the  Lord's  day,  staying  out  of 
Meeting,  playing,  Jesting,  and  sleeping  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Meet- 
ing House.  The  Constables  were  instructed  to  take  notice  of  such 
persons  and  to  "sett  them  in  the  stockes."  The  Constables  were  also 
to  prevent  "  vnessesary  violent  ryding  on  the  Lord's  day."j|  All 
these  peculiar  customs  originated,  not  with  the  Pilgrims  or  Puri- 
tans, but   in  the  Parishes  of  Old  England. 

The  reproduction  of  constabulary  institutions  in  the  Massachusetts 
Colony  we  cannot  notice  in  detail,  but  the  process  was  immediate, 
and  even  more  perfect  than  in  Plymouth  Colony.  At  the  third 
Court  of  Assistants  held  at  ( 'liarlestown  September  2*.  K>30,  John 
"Woodbury  was  chosen  Constable  of  Salem,  and  Thomas  Stoughton 
Constable  of  Dorchester.  At  a  Court  held  three  weeks  later,  Con- 
stables were  appointed  for  Charlestown,  Roxburv  and  Watertown.^T 
It  is  not  likely  that  these  colonial  appointments  were  anything  more 
than  the  confirmation  of  existing  officers  and  of  candidates  presented 

*  Plymouth  Col.  Records.  Laws,  254. 

t  Ibid,  ML         t  Ihiil,  2-j.J. 

$  "  Tithiugiiien,"  Proceedings  of  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Now  Ser.,  vol.  i.  Part  3. 

||  Fly  mouth  Col.  Records,  Law;,,  214,  'J'.'t.  Compare  the  Sunday  duties  of  Plymouth 
Constables  with  tho<e  of  the  Salem  Constables,  see  extract  from  MS.  Town  Records,  1 67*», 
in  Osgood  and  Ihitchelder,  Sketch  of  Salem,  17:  "  three  constables  are  to  lie  at  the  three 
great  doors  of  the  meeting-house  and  allow  none  to  go  out  till  all  the  exercises  are  Mulshed. 
All  the  hoj  -  are  to  sit  on  the  three  pair  of  stairs  in  the  meeting-house,  inelmliiig  those  of  the 
pulpit.  One  constable  is  t,.  keep  tin  doe-  ..lit  of  the  meeting-house."  This  otlleu  reminds 
us  of  the  I)oj;-\Vliipper  in  Knglisli  Parishes. 

«l  Mass.  Col.  Ree.,i.  7»i.  1'J. 


28 

by  a  local  constituency.  John  Woodbury,  who  "did  now  [in  1630] 
take  the  oath  of  a  constable,"  was  the  old  planter  who  had  been 
sent  as  messenger  to  England  in  1626  by  Roger  Conant  and  his 
companions.  In  1628,  before  Captain  Endicott  came  over,  old 
Naumkeag  had  levied  a  local  tax*  of  £1  10  shillings,  in  payment 
of  an  assessment  made  by  Plymouth  colony  for  the  expenses  incur- 
red by  Captain  Miles  Standish  in  arresting  Morton  at  Merry  Mount 
and  in  sending  the  rogue  back  to  England.  Who  more  likely  to 
have  collected  and  paid  over  this  tax  than  faithful  John  Woodbury  ? 
In  1629  Gov.  Endicott  received  orders  from  the  Massachusetts 
Company  to  "  appoint  a  carefull  and  dilligent  overseer  to  each  fami- 
ly, "f  With  the  adoption  of  this  system,  which  is  the  first  approach 
in  New  England  to  the  old  English  system  of  Tithingmen,  it  is 
highly  probable  that  some  one  family  overseer  should  have  had  su- 
perior authority  over  all  the  rest,  just  as  did  the  "  overseer  "  appoint- 
ed by  the  Governor  of  Plymouth  colony,  over  the  Indian  Tithing- 
men throughout  Plymouth  towns.  Governor  Endicott  was  distinctly 
instructed!  by  the  Massachusetts  Company  to  look  into  the  work- 
ings of  his  government  by  families,  and,  if  need  be,  to  make  an 
example  of  offenders ;  "  otherwise,"  said  the  Company,  "  your 
government  wilbe  esteemed  as  a  scarcrow."  Correction,  they 
added,  was  ordained  for  the  fool's  back.  As  a  wholesome  warning 
to  offenders,  "  a  house  of  correction  "  was  to  be  instituted.  Endi- 
cott had  authority  to  inflict  punishment  according  to  the  nature  of 
the  offence  and  the  laws  of  England.  Public  whippings  and  com- 
mitment to  a  lock-up  or  house  of  correction  imply  the  existence  of  a 
Constable.  When,  therefore,  we  find  Captain  Endicott  at  the  Court 
of  Assistants,  September  28,  1630,  nominating  John  Woodbury  as 
Constable  for  Salem,  we  are  inclined  to  think  it  was  merely  for  the 
sake  of  confirmation  under  the  new  government,  and  that  John 
Woodbury  was  already  quite  familiar  with  constabulary  duty. 

Let  us  now  sum  up  in  brief  the  more  important  functions  of  Petty 
Constables  as  reinstituted  in  New  England.  The  following  enu- 
meration is  drawn  from  the  laws  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  but 
what  was  true  of  the  local  institutions  of  that  Colony  is  true  to  a  great 
extent  of  other  New  England  Colonies.  Every  one  of  the  following 
duties  has  its  Old  English  prototype  :  a  Constable  had  power  to 
"  whipp  &  punish  "  or  to  provide  for  the  same  ;  to  send  or  convey 
persons  "  from  connstable  to  connstable  ;  "  to  "  speede  away  all  hues 
&  crys  "  against  thieves,  robbers,  murderers,  manslayers,  peacebreak- 
ers,  on  penalty  of  forty  shillings  in  capital  cases  ;  to  apprehend  with- 
out warrant  all  persons  "  overtaken  with  drincke,"  all  profane 
swearers,  Sabbath  breakers,  vagrants,  night-walkers  ;  to  search,  for 

•  Morton,  New  England's  Memorial  (ed.  1826),  142;  Gov.  Bradford's  Letter  Book,  1624- 
30,  in  Collections  of  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  1st  series,  vol.  3,  p.  63. 
t  Mass.  Col.  Rec.,  i.  400. 
t  Massachusetts  Col.  Records,  i.  393,  397,  400,  401,  405. 


20 

such  persons  in  suspected  or  disorderly  places  and  in  houses  licensed 
to  sell  beer  or  wine  ;  not  to  apprehend  by  order  of  magistrate  with- 
out a  warrant ;  to  warn  any  person  to  assist  him,  and  none  to  refuse 
on  penalty  of  ten  shillings  ;  to  "  carry  his  black  stafFe  "  in  execution 
of  his  office  that  none  may  plead  ignorance  ;  to  take  notice  of  "  com- 
mon coasters,  vnprofitable  fowlers,  &  other  idle  persons,  &  tobacco 
takers — and  of  such  as  harbor  any  young  people,  children,  servants, 
apprentices,  students  or  schollers,"  without  hastening  them  to  their 
respective  employments  ;  to  aid  custom  house  officers  in  the  search 
for  wines,  by  breaking  open  cellars,  &c.  ;  to  levy  all  fines  and 
"  gather  all  toune  rates  ;  ;'  to  clear  accounts  with  the  "  countrje  Tre- 
surer  ;"  to  register  in  a  book  all  lost  goods  or  strays  and  to  cry  the 
same  at  "  three  generall  toune  meetings  or  lectures  ;  "  to  present  the 
names  of  all  persons  refusing  "  to  watch  &  ward  ;"  to  begin  "  the 
constables  watch  "  annually  on  the  first  of  May  and  not  give  over 
nntil  the  last  of  September :  to  see  that  the  watch  be  of  "  sufficient 
able  men,  &  not  youths;  "  to  secure  or  commit  K  any  inhabitant  or 
stranger  after  tenne  of  the  clocke  at  night,  behaving  themselves  de- 
boist,"*  and  not  giving  a  good  account  of  themselves  to  "ye  con- 
stable or  watchman,"  the  Constable  to  carry  them  before  a  maixis- 
trate  the  next  morning ;  to  provide  "  at  the  tonnes  charge "  all 
weights  and  measures  required  by  law  for  "toune  standards,"  and, 
upon  warrant  from  the  "  toune  sealer "  to  warn  all  inhabitants  to 
bring  in  their  weights  and  measures  to  be  tried  and  sealed  ;  to  serve 
all  attachments  as  may  be  directed  in  any  civil  case  ;  to  "  warne  the 
freemen  of  theire  toune  in  the  2d  week  of  March  annually  to  mete 
together  ;  "  to  make  return  under  their  hand  of  the  names  of  depu- 
ties ;  to  pay  the  Marshal  General  three  pence  out  of  every  attachment 
that  may  be  served  ;  to  execute  warrants  for  the  choice  of  jurymen, 
and  to  warn  the  persons  chosen  ;  in  case  of  the  untimely  or  unnatu- 
ral death  of  any  person,  to  "summon  a  jury  of  twelve  discrcetc 
men  "  to  inquire  into  the  cause  and  manner  of  the  death  ;  to  give 
warning  unto  the  inhabitants  of  their  town  of  husbands  living 
apart  from  their  wives  ;  not  to  refuse  the  office  of  a  Constable  being 
orderly  chosen  thereto  under  penalty!  of  five  pounds,  and  if  in 
Boston,  ten  pounds  :  "incase;  of  any  servants  running  from  theire 
master,  or  inhabitants  going  privily  away,  with  suspition  of  the  in- 
tention, in  ye  absence  of  a  magistrate,  the  connstable  and  two  of  the 
clieife  inhabitants  is  to  presse  men,  boates  and  pinnaces,  at  the  puh- 
lique  charge,  to  pursue  such  persons  by    sea  or  land,   <&  bring  them 

•  Dohoist,  perhaps  from  tin'  past  participle  of  "dcliosh,"  an  old  English  corruption  of 
debauch,  tn  he  found  in  Beaumont  ami  Fletcher. 

fin  Old  England  penalties  were  ever)  where  in  vogue  for  refusing  local  offices.  I.ani- 
hard  gives  abundant  examples.  It  was  regarded  a-  a  duty  I'm-  the  best  men  in  the  Parish  to 
serve  in  the  office  of  ("on  -table,  ami  that  by  a  system  of  rotation,  not  indeed  for  the  sake  of 
spoil,  but  in  order  that  the  burden  of  the  office  might  be  shared  by  all  We  have  a>  yet 
found  no  English  precedent  for  the  town  policy  of  A-hbv,  M  i->..  which  from  1811  to  ls;C>. 
sold  the  office  of  Constable  to  the  highest  bidder.  See  Drake.  S.  A.,  Hist,  of  Middlesex 
Countv,  i.  2'2o.    And  yet  military  offices  used  to  be  sold  in  Englund. 


30 

bncke  by  force  of  armes  ; "  to  inform  the  Court  of  all  new  comers 
who  settle  themselves  without  license.* 

This  remarkable  list  of  duties,  which  we  have  given  in  the  very 
language  of  the  original  laws,  comprises,  together  with  the  control  of 
Highways  nnd  Bridges,  the  chief  substance  of  constabulary  duty  in 
early  New  England.  By  comparing  this  list  with  that  given  in  the 
Humphrey  manuscript-warrants  of  constabulary  duty  issued  in  Old 
England,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  early  English  institution  was  repro- 
duced in  every  essential  detail. f  The  original  object  of  Massachu- 
setts in  proclaiming  its  constabulary  law  was  that  "  each  connsta- 
ble  may  vnderstand  his  duty."  The  object  of  the  English  warrants 
was  to  give  the  "  Articles  to  be  diligently  enquired  of — by  the  Petty 
Constable  &  Tithingmen  in  euery  parish,  town,  &  hamlet."  This 
spirit  is  very  different  from  the  degenerate  conception  of  Constables 
entertained  by  Blackstone,  who  says  of  constabulary  power,  "  con- 
sidering what  manner  of  men  are  for  the  most  part  put  into  these 
offices,  it  is  perhaps  well  that  they  are  generally  kept  in  ignorance." 
Our  Forefathers  in  England  and  New  England  made  their  best  men 
Constables  and  Captains  of  Militia,  and  clothed  both  offices  with 
dignity  and  honor.  Historically  the  one  office  is  as  honorable  as 
the  other,  for  Constables  and  Commanders  of  the  Militia  were  in 
ancient  times  one  and  the  same.  Militia  Captains  represent  more 
fully  perhaps  the  survival  of  the  original  constabulary  spirit,  the 
idea  of  armed  force,  which  is  the  foundation  and  defence  of  all  civil 
institutions. 

But  Constables,  in  their  civil  capacity,  are  also  cases  of  historic 
survival.  Every  one  of  the  powers  enumerated  above,  however 
ignorant  the  modern  Petty  Constable  may  be  of  their  full  signifi- 
cance, links  the  communal  life  of  to-day  to  its  Old  English  be- 
ginnings. Every  item  of  constabulary  duty  is  an  assertion  of  a  fun- 
damental principle  in  civil  society,  the  sovereignty  of  the  communi- 
ty, of  the  salus  publica,  over  the  individual.  The  Constable  rep- 
resents the   organized  force   of  the  State  or  Commonwealth.     The 

*  Mass.  Col.  Records,  iv.  Part  1.,  324-27.  Cf.  ii.  150-1.  See  also  Laws  of  the  Colony  and 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  ( 1814),  82-81,  and  the  recent  edition  of  the  Acts  and  Re- 
solves of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  under  "  Constables."  Public  Statutes  of 
Massachusetts  (1882),  "Constable."  We  have  examined  the  Colonial  Records  of  Con- 
necticut, the  New  Haven  Colonial  Records,  and  the  Records  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Isl- 
and and  Providence  Plantations,  as  well  as  those  of  Plymouth  Colony,  but  have  no  where 
found  so  complete  an  exhibition  of  constabulary  duty  as  that  given  in  the  first  citation  of 
the  Col.  Records  of  Massachusetts.  In  the  last  edition  of  the  Public  Statutes  of  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Massachusetts  (1882)  may  be  found  certain  cases  of  survival,  such  as  the 
power  of  requiring  aid  in  cases  of  escape  (217,239),  and  the  duty  of  enforcing  the  law 
against  Sabbath-breaking  and  profane  swearing. 

t  For  other  means  of  comparison  between  constabulary  duty  in  New  England  and  Old 
England,  see  Lambard's  "  Duties  of  Constables,"  and  Wilcox's  "  Office  of  Constable,  com- 
prising the  laws  relating  to  High,  Perty  and  Special  Constables,  Head  boroughs,  Tithing- 
men, Borsholdera  and  Watchmen,  with  an  account  of  their  institutions  and  appointment." 
This  is  an  English  book,  based  upon  Lambard  and  published  about  18 17,  republished  in 
Philadelphia,  in  1840,  by  John  S.  Littell,  in  the  so-called  "  Law  Library."  There  are  some 
interesting  remarks  upon  Constables  in  The  Nineteenth  Century,  Feb.  1881,  by  Henry  A. 
Blake,  on  "The  Irish  Police."  He  says,  "  Everything  in  Ireland,  from  the  muzzling  of  a 
dog  to  the  suppression  of  a  rebellion,  is  done  by  the  Irish  constabulary." 


31 

entire  strength  of  the  People,  the  whole  weight  of  the  Common  Law, 
the  accumulated  force  of  civic  experience  and  institutional  history,  may 
be  brought  to  bear  in  the  restraint  of  violence  and  in  the  keeping  of 
the  public  peace  by  constabulary  power.  Consider  what  was  rep- 
resented by  the  "black  staffe  "  which  the  Constables  of  early  New 
England  carried  in  the  execution  of  their  office,  that  none  might 
plead  ignorance.  It  was  a  black  staff,  "about  five  foote,  or  five  & 
a  halfe  foote  long,  tiped  at  ye  upper  end,  about  five  or  six  inches, 
with  bras.se."*  This  Tipstaffe  was  something  like  the  Black  Rod 
still  borne  by  the  Gentleman  Usher  of  the  English  Parliament,  when 
he  taps  at  the  door  of  the  House  of  Commons  and  summons  them 
to  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Lords.  The  black  staff  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Constable  was  "  provided  by  ye  towne  "  as  a  symbol  or  badge 
of  office.  AVe  find  mention  of  the  Black  Staff  in  the  Town  Records 
of  Salem  and  Groton.f  What  did  this  emblem  signify  historically? 
It  meant  the  approach  of  royal  authority  or  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Commonwealth.  Among  the  East  Saxons  it  was  customary,  once 
a  year,  to  carry  the  Wardstaff  of  the  King,  which  represented  his 
person,  from  Hundred  to  Hundred,  from  Manor  to  Manor,  and  from 
Parish  to  Parish,  as  a  token  of  the  entrance  of  the  King's  peace. 
Wherever  the  Staff  came,  borne  by  the  Bailiff  of  Ongar  Hundred, 
tenants  and  land-owners  kept  watch  with  the  sacred  emblem  over 
night  "until  the  sunne  arrising,"  so  that  "the  King  be  harmless  and 
the  countree  scatheless."  In  the  morning  the  Lord  of  the  Town  or 
Manor  repaired  to  the  Wardstaff,  and,  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
Watch,  scored  thereon  a  notch  as  a  token  of  loyal  service  done  that 
year.  Then  the  Staff  was  delivered  again  to  the  Bailiff  and  sent  on 
to  the  Lord  of  the  next  Town  or  Manor,  with  a  message  in  verse 
'called  the  "Tale  of  the  Wardstaffe,"  ending  with  these  words  : 

"  Sir,  by  leave,  take  this  Staffe, 

This  is  the  Tale  of  the  AYardstafic.'' 
And  thus  through  all  the  Towns  and  Hundreds  of  Essex,  the 
willow  staff  was  borne  until  it  came  to  Atte  Wode,  where  it  was 
thrown  into  the  sea. J  "With  some  such  ceremony  perhaps  the  Con- 
stable's Tipstaffe  was  early  associated  as  symbolizing  the  presence 
of  the  King.  Possibly  the  local  keepers  of  tjie  King's  peace  simply 
touched  the  Wardstaff  with  their  own  staves,  thus  deriving  a  certain 
measure  of  royal  authority.  It  was  certainly  the  custom  in  the  Hun- 
dreds or  Wapentakes  of  the  North  of  Lngland  for  the  chief  men  of 
the  district  to  recognize  the  authority  of  the  Ilundredman  by  touching 

*  Mass.  Records,  ii.  1.51  ;  iv.  Part  T.  32.5.  Constables  "acting  from  their  mine  authority  " 
were  required  liy  law  to  take  witli  them  their  lilaek  staves  in  the  execution  of  their  office  ; 
but  when  armed  with  a  warrant,  they  might  carry  their  Tipstaffe  or  not,  as  they  pleased, 
see  v.  29.  Items  concerning  the  use  of  this  ancient  emblem  may  also  be  found  in  the  Acts 
and  Resolves  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Hay.  c.  g.  i.  1  •">•'». 

t  Salem  Town  Records  (Historical  Collections  of  iv-scx  Institute,  Second  .Series,  vol.  i. 
147:  "two  hlaekstauesof  sixc  foot  long  or  thereabout  be  provided  for  ye  Constables,  &  Kd: 
Batter  to  speak  to  (Iran:  Perrv  to  banc  them  made."  S.  A.  Green,  Kailv  Records  u!  tiro- 
ton,  19 :   Item  "  toe  black  stall; 0    3    (>." 

I  Palgrave,  English  Commonwealth,  ii.  clviii.-clxii.,  "  Tale  of  the  Wardstaff." 


32 

his  lance  with  their  own  weapons  in  a  public  assembly.*  If  we  may- 
believe  Herbert  Spencer,  the  idea  of  royal  sceptres  developed  from 
the  chieftain's  spear,  and  "  the  spears  borne  by  subordinates,  sym- 
bolizing their  deputed  authority,  gradually  changed  into  staves  of 
office,  batons  of  command,  and  wands. "f  The  Old  English  Tip- 
staffe  was  the  legal  badge  of  office  for  both  Constables  and  Tithing- 
men  in  the  Massachusetts  Colony.  In  the  Plymouth  Towns  every 
Constable  was  required  by  law  to  have  "  a  constables  staffe  "  to  distin- 
guish him  in  the  discharge  of  his  office,  and  to  be  delivered  to  his 
successor  as  a  symbol  of  the  transfer  of  power  .J  These  Tipstaves 
have  continued  in  use  in  many  New  England  Towns  down  to  a  very 
recent  date.  We  remember  to  have  seen  within  a  few  years  at  Am- 
herst College  Commencements,  held  in  the  old  Parish  Meeting 
House,  a  force  of  special  Constables  employed  to  seat  the  "  congre- 
gation," and  bearing  black  staves  as  an  emblem  of  their  official  au- 
thority. An  aesthetic  transformation  of  ancient  custom  may  be  seen 
at  Smith  College  Commencements,  Northampton,  where  young 
ladies  acting  as  ushers  carry  tasteful  wands,  tipped,  not  with  brass, 
but  with  ribbon,  and  where  the  only  vestige  of  constabulary  duty 
is  a  male  professor,  who  stands  on  guard. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  ancient  constabulary  power 
as  perpetuated  in  New  England  down  to  the  present  day,  is  the  pow- 
er to  "speede  away  all  hues  &  crys"§  against  thieves,  robbers,  mur- 
derers, and  breakers  of  the  public  peace.  This  power  connects  New 
England  Towns  most  intimately,  not  only  with  Old  English  Parishes 
but  with  Saxon  Village  Communities.  In  the  early  middle  ages 
the  Hue  and  Cry  was  a  terrible  means  of  executing  justice.  It  let 
loose  an  entire  village,  like  a  pack  of  wolves,  in  pursuit  of  an   out- 

*  Laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  xxx.  (Thorpe,  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  Eng- 
land, i.  455).  Everwichescire,  Nicholescire,  Notingeharascire,  Leicestrescire,  Norhamtun- 
escire,  et  usque  ad  Watlingestrete,  et  viii.  milliaria  ultra  Watlingestrete,  sub  lege  An- 
glorum.  Et  quod  alii  vocant  hundredum,  supradicti  comitatus  vocant  wapentagium,  et 
hoc  non  sine  causa:  cum  enim  aliquis  accipiebat  prefecturara  wapentagii,  die  constituto, 
conveniebant  omnes  majores  contra  eum  in  loco  uhi  soliti  erant  congregari,  et,  descendente 
eo  de  equo  suo,  omnes  assurgebant  contra  eum,  et  ipse  erigebat  lanceam  suam  in  altum,  et 
omnes  de  lanceis  suis  tangebant  hastam  ejus,  et  sic  confirmabant  se  sibi.  Et  de  armis,  quia 
arma  vocant  wappa,  et  taccare,  quod  est  confirmare. 

t  Herbert  Spencer,  Ceremonial  Institutions,  177.  In  Hazlitt's  edition  of  Blount's  Ten- 
ures of  Land  and  Customs  of  Manors,  p.  80,  is  a  very  curious  allusion  to  the  Tithingman's 
wand.  "The  Tithingman  of  Combe  Keynes  is  obliged  to  do  suit  at  Winfrith-court ; and 
after  repeating  the  following  incoherent  lines,  pays  threepence,  and  goes  out  without  say- 
ing another  word : 

With  my  white  rod, 
And  I  am  a  fourth  post, 
That  threepence  makes  three, 
God  bless  the  King  and  the  lord  of  the  franchise ; 
Our  weights  and  our  measures  are  lawful  and  true, 
Good-morrow,  Mr.  Steward  ;  I  have  no  more  to  say  to  you. 
On  default  of  any  of  these  particulars  the  court  leet  of  Combe  is  forfeited." 
%  Plymouth  Colony    Records,    Laws,   122  ;    Brigham's   edition    of   Plymouth,  Laws 
(1836),    266.     "Every  Constable   shall  have  a  Black   Staffe  tipped    with    Brasse,  as    a 
Badge  of  his  office,  which  as  he  hath  opportunity,  he  shall  take  with  him  when   he 
goeth  to  discharge  any  part  of  his  office,  yet  notwithstanding,  the  want  of  his  staffe  shall 
not  hinder  him  from  executing  his  office  in  any  kinde,  if  occasionally  he  be  without  it,  nor 
exempt  any  from  assisting  him  therein  that  may  know  him  to  be  the  Constable." 
§  Mass.  Col.  Records,  iv.  Part  I.  324. 


33 

law  or  fugitive.  Every  man  called  upon  by  the  Reeve  or  Tithing- 
man  was  obliged  to  leave  work  or  repose  and  join  the  human  hunt. 
When  the  Hue  and  Cry  reached  the  next  village,  the  head  man  of 
that  place  was  obliged  by  the  law  of  the  Saxons  to  summon  his 
villagers  and  speed  away.  The  whole  Hundred  and  the  whole  Shire 
were  thus  quickly  aroused,  and  woe  then  to  the  wretched  outlaw. 
The  country  was  filled  with  human  hounds  thirsting  for  his  blood. 
It  is  fearfully  significant  of  the  immense  power  invested  in  the  early 
New  England  Constable  that  he  too  could  raise  the  old  Saxon  Hue 
and  Cry,  "by  foote,  &  if  need  be,  by  horse,"*  in  hot  pursuit  of  all 
capital  offenders.  In  the  King's  name  the  Constable  could  raise  the 
Town  and  compel  all  men  to  join  him  in  the  pursuit  of  a  criminal. 
Not  even  the  Selectmen  could  refuse  his  call  for  aid,  under  penalty 
of  the  law.f  And  to  this  day  the  Petty  Constables  of  New 
England  have  the  same  old  power.  Should  it  become  necessary, 
the  lowly  officer  of  any  obscure  hamlet  could  assert,  like  the  High 
Sheriff^  of  a  County,  the  authority  of  the  Commonwealth  and  com- 
mand all  the  men  in  his  neighborhood  to  join  him  in  the  preservation 
of  the  peace.  Petty  Constables  have  the  power  of  the  State  behind 
them,  and  rely  upon  it.  We  have  seen  a  crowd  of  men  called  upon 
by  a  Parish  Constable  to  aid  him  in  arrest.  The  familiar  cry  of  "  Stop 
Thief!  "  if  raised  by  a  Petty  Constable,  converts  all  persons  who 
hoar  it  into  a  constabulary  band,  or  regular  Hue  and  Cry  to  chase  the 
offender.  With  a  warrant  issued  in  due  form,  a  Petty  Constable 
may  pursue  a  criminal  by  foot  or  by  horse,  by  railroad  or  tele- 
graph, from  Town  to  Town,  from  County  to  County,  and  may  "ap- 
prehend him  in  any  place  in  the  Common  wealth. "§ 

In  these  modern  times  of  civic  order  and  well-regulated  peace,  the 
iron  hand  of  Law  is  seldom  laid  with  its  full  force  upon  a  transgressor. 
Constables  occasionally  serve  a  writ,  or  arrest  a  vagabond  "overtaken 
with  drincke,"  but  the  chief  duty  of  their  office  now  appears  to  be 
that  of  attending  to  their  own  private  concerns  and  ignoring  the 
pranks  of  small  boys.  The  Constable  may  be  a  quiet,  unobtrusive 
man,  but  Ik;  still  represents  the  majesty  of  Law.  There  is  latent 
power  in  the  constabulary  office,  as  in  all  our  homely  local  insti- 
tutions. The  authority  of  the  Townsmen  sometimes  sleeps,  but  it 
is  a  lion  sleeping  before  the  gate  of  a  citadel.  The  young  lions  of 
liberty  play  fearlessly  within  the  reach  of  Law,  and  still  the  lion 
sleeps.  But  let  an  enemy  approach  from  without,  or  a  traitor  come 
forth  from  within.  Lehold,  a  lion  stands  in  the  way.  There  is 
a  lion  in  the  street. 

*  Mas«.  Col.  Records,  ii.  182.  t  Ibid,  ii.  150. 

X  Public  Stiitutes  of  M;i*v.  ( IK82).  *J i 7 .  '-!.'$'.>. 

}  Ilcnick,  Town  Otliecr  (IMV),  Ml.     Public  Statutes  of  Mass.  (ISS'2),  J3.I. 


34 


Addendum. 
Hog-Reeves  or  Hog-Constables. 

In  many  old  Towns  in  New  England,  for  example  in  the  ancient 
Town  of  Plymouth,  there  is  a  surviving  type  of  a  local  officer, 
which  is  more  primitive  than  the  office  of  Tithingman  or  Petty  Con- 
stable. Before  there  were  keepers  of  the  village-peace  in  the  Sax- 
on sense,  there  were  keepers  of  swine  which  roamed  tribal  domains. 
Before  nomad  chieftains  had  stables  and  hostlers,  they  had  their 
flocks  and  herds  and  droves  of  swine,  all  with  appointed  herdsmen. 
Although  doubtless  every  chief  had  his  servants  trained  for  tribal 
defence,  as  did  Abraham  his  three  hundred  and  eighteen  men,*  yet 
pastoral  institutions,  like  the  herdsmen  of  Gerar  who  strove  with 
Isaac's  herdsmen,  f  carry  us  back  to  a  more  rudimentary  stage  of  soci- 
ety than  a  numerically  organized  martial  Host,  like  the  Hundreds 
and  Tithings  of  the  Saxons  when  they  occupied  Britain.  In  fact 
the  invading  Saxons  brought  with  them,  in  all  probability,  ideas  of 
older  institutions  than  Hundredmen  and  Tithingmen,  in  short  primi- 
tive, more  or  less  servile  institutions,  inherited  by  their  ancestors  from 
the  high  pasture-lands  of  Asia,  and  connecting  our  Aryan  race  with 
all  pastoral  peoples,  if  not  with  primitive  savagery.  Among  those 
institutions  was  that  one  of  which  Scott  has  given  us  a  graphic  de- 
scription in  the  person  of  Gurth,J  the  Saxon  Swine-Herd,  who  in 
the  upland  pastures  of  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire  represented  not 
merely  the  survival  of  primitive  Saxon  speech,  but  the  survival  of  a 
primitive  pastoral  office.  In  fact  Scott  calls  him  a  second  Eumauis, 
who  was  the  S wine-Herd  of  Odysseus.  In  Saxon  England  Swine- 
Herds  were  a  very  necessary  institution.  Swine  were  so  numerous  in 
the  days  of  King  Edgar  that  he  was  obliged  to  proclaim  a  law  to  the 
effect  that  no  animal  of  this  species  should  be  allowed  to  enter  Church 
if  it  could  possibly  be  hindered. §  Hog-Reeves  and  Dog-Whippers 
were  stationed  at  cathedral  doors  in  time  of  service  to  prevent  pro- 
fane intrusion.  The  function  of  dog-whipping  was  handed  on  to 
New  England  Tithingmen  and  Constables,  who  sat  at  the  doors  of 
the  Meeting- House  to  keep  out  dogs  and  keep  in  boys.  Hogreeves 
were  almost  everywhere  instituted  in  our  early  Towns. 

In  New  England  the  very  first  liberties  specifically  granted  to 
Towns  were  concerning  the  herding  of  cattle  and  swine,  and  the  reg- 
ulation  of  fences  and  common  fields.     In  the  colonial  records  of 

*  Genesis,  xiv.  14.  f  Ibid,  xxvi.  20;  cf.  xiii.  7. 

%  Scott,  Ivanhoe,  chap.  i.  "  One  part  of  his  dress  .  .  .  was  a  brass  ring  resembling 
a  dog's  collar — soldered  fast  around  his  neck,  so  loose  as  to  form  no  impediment  to  his 
breathing,  yet  so  tight  as  to  be  incapable  of  being  removed,  excepting  by  the  use  of  the 
file.  On  this  singular  gorget  was  engraved  in  Saxon  characters,  an  inscription  of  the  fol- 
lowing purport:  '  Gurtb,  the  son  of  Beowulph,  is  the  born  thrall  of  Cedric  of  Rother- 
wood.' "  Rotherwood  is  an  old  name  designating  a  place  for  Rother-beasts  (from  the 
Saxon  hrudher,  mod.  Ger.  Rind).  The  term  was  usually  applied  to  cows  and  oxen.  Rother- 
beasts  are  mentioned  in  the  3  and  4  Edward  VI.  Rother-beasts  were  brought  over  to  New 
England,  see  White's  Planter's  Plea,  in  Young's  Chronicles  of  Massachusetts. 

$  Thorpe,  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  England,  ii.  251. 


35 

Massachusetts  we  find  resolutions  like  the  following  :  "  Euery  towne 
shall  haue  liberty  to  make  such  orders  aboute  swine  as  they  shall 
judge  best  for  themselues."*  Towns  were  ordered  to  choose  yearly 
"  6ome  one  discreet  person,  who  shalbee  called  the  hogreeve, "J  who 
had  power  to  seize  all  "  wild  swine,"  going  without  a  keeper,  with- 
out yoke  or  tethering  line,  or  some  means  of  restraint.  Swine  were 
often  allowed  to  run  at  large  if  properly  yoked  or  ringed. |  It  is 
rather  surprising  to  one  familiar  with  the  open  lawns  and  beautiful 
streets  of  Stockbridge,  the  model  town  of  Berkshire,  to  find  in  its 
original  Town  Records  repeated  entries  like  the  following  :  "  Voted, 
that  the  hoggs  be  yoked  and  run  at  large  by  the  15th  of  April  next."§ 
In  Stockbridge  the  llogreeves,  as  indeed  all  Town  Officers,  with  the 
exception  of  Moderator  and  Town  Clerk,  were  originally  Indians. 
The  Town  Records  are  full  of  strange,  uncouth  Indian  names,  which 
appear  all  the  stranger  from  their  combination  with  Old  Testament 
or  Christian  names ;  for  example,  Jehoiakim  Xau-naum-pe-tonk, 
Constable ;  David  Xau-nau-nee-ke-nuk,  Tithingman  ;  Jacob  Nau- 
nauqhtaunk,  Hogreeve ;  Solomon  Waunaupaugus,  Peter  Popgun- 
aupeet,  and  John  Konkapot,  Selectmen.  We  find  "  hog  constibls 
and  lens  uewers  "  in  the  Early  Records  of  Groton,  recently  edited 
by  J)r.  Samuel  A.  Green  with  careful  reference  to  historical  ortho- 
graphy. The  variety  of  ways  in  which  Groton  Town-Clerks  con- 
trived to  spell ||  the  same  office  is  marvellous  to  behold.  Evidently, 
like  General  Jackson,  they  despised  a  man  who  could  spell  a  word 
in  only  one  way. 

The  election  of  llogreeves  is  still  kept  up  in  many  old  New  Eng- 
land Towns.  The  conferment  of  that  office  at  the  annual  Town- 
Meeting  is  now  regarded  as  a  kind  of  municipal  joke.  Almost  in- 
variably the  honor  is  given  to  persons  who  are  least  likely  to  appre- 
ciate it,  for  example  to  newly  married  men.  In  the  town  of  Ply- 
mouth a  rising  young  lawyer  and  a  Harvard  graduate,  soon  after  his 
marriage,  was  dignified  by  his  fellow  townsmen  with  the  venerable 
office  of  Hogreeve.  Jn  a  Western  Massachusetts  Town  we  have 
heard  of  a  popular  minister  who  was  elected  Hogreeve  by  the  unani- 
mous vote  of  his  parishioners.  He  retaliated  in  a  little  speech,  say- 
ing that  he  had  always  supposed  that  he  had  been  invited  to  that 
town  as  a  shepherd  of  the  sheep,  but  he  was  now  surprised  to  learn 
that  it  was  really  as  keeper  of  quite  a  different  sort  of  animals. 

*  Muss.  Records,  i.  11!);  of.  i.  Ill),  86,  87  ;  Plymouth  Col.  Records,  Laws,  15,  'J-').  '27,  •'!-!. 

t  Mass.  Records,  i.  1S2.  In  (iroton,  Mas-.,  there  were  Swine-Herds  and  Overseers  of 
the  Swine.     See  Green,  Kaiiv  Records,  111,  11"),  "Swinerd." 

{  Green,  Early  Records  of  Groton,  IN,  108;  Town  Record.-  of  Salem,  64,08,  So,  130,  143, 
152. 

jS  MS.  Town  Records  of  Stockbridge,   March  15,  1748. 

||  Green,  Kurly  Records  of  Groton,  SS;  cf.  DU,  "  Constibll;  "  98,  "  Constabclle ;"  'A 
"  cunstabell;"  10S,  "feucfuer;"  115,  "  fence  ueers,"    llfi,  "fene  newer." 


36 


Documents  defining  the  Duties  of  Constables. 

18  Somerset  Street,  Boston,  Mass., 
Sept.  15,  1881. 
H.  B.  Adams,  Esq., 

Dear  Sir  :  Jonas  Humfrey,*  of  Dorchester,  the  ancestor  of  the  family 
(Humphrey  or  Humphreys)  in  that  town,  arrived  in  "  1637,"  on  "  the 
9th  of  September."!  The  next  clay,  as  appears  by  the  Dorchester  Town 
Records,  he  bought  the  house,  home  lot,  and  other  lands  of  William  Han- 
num.t  This  home  lot  has  been  in  possession  of  the  family  to  the  present 
time,  and  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Deacon  Henry  Humphreys,  of  the 
seventh  generation  in  descent  from  Jonas,§who  was,  according  to  tradition,  a 
constable  in  Wendover,  co.  Bucks,  England,  before  coming  to  this  country. 
Tradition  further  states  that  he  brought  with  him  two  original  papers  in 
which  the  duties  of  a  constable  are  set  forth  very  explicitly,  in  twelve  arti- 
cles. The  first  document  sent  you  with  this,  I  carefully  copied  from  one 
of  those  papers.  The  second  was  transcribed  from  a  manuscript  copy. 
The  original  of  the  latter  $.  saw  and  made  a  fac-simile  of  more  than  thirty 
years  ago.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  both  the  original  and  the  fac-simile  are 
now  missing.  Yours  truly, 

William  B.  Trask. 

To  the  Constables  of  Wendouer  Burrough  cum  fforence||  and  to  eu'y  of 
them 

These  are  in  his  Mat8:  name  to  will  &  require  yow  to  giue  notice  of  these 
Articles  hereunto  annexed  to  the  Church  wardens  &  ou'seers  of  ye  poore  of 
yor  pish  and  that  both  you  and  the  said  Church  wardens  &  ou'seers  doe 
bringe  vnto  his  Mau:  Justices  at  the  Red  Lyon  in  Wendouer  on  Wednes- 
day the  27th.  of  this  Instant  Moneth  of  June  by  Eight  of  the  Clock  in  the 
forenoone  their  Presentm'*:  according  to  each  Articles  as  they  shall  be- 
longe  to  their  seu'all  offices  And  farther  that  Yow:  doe  certifye  to  his 
Ma18  Justices  exactly  wl:  Alehouses  are  licensed  and  Wl:  vnlicensed  wthin 
yor  lib'ties  Strictly  enioyning  all  the  said  Alehouse  keepers  licensed  and 
vnlicensed  not  to  fayle  to  be  before  his  Mats:  Justices  at  the  same  tyme  and 
that  wth  the  aduice  of  the  minister  &  some  three  or  fower  of  the  most  Sub- . 
stantiall  Inhabitants  yow  doe  certifye  vnto  them  what  number  of  Alehouses 
are  fit  to  be  licensed  in  your  pish  and  what  psons  are  fittest  to  keepe  them 
and  alsoe  that  you  certifye  to  them  what  psons  there  are  that  doe  vsually 
vent  &  sell  Tobacco  by  retayle  in  yor  towne  &  of  their  fitnesse  soe  to  doe, 
together  wth  the  names  of  such  other  psons  as  you  shall  thinke  fitt  to  be 
admitted  to  vse  that  trade  together  with  the  trade  wch  they  now  vse  And 
farther  that  you  keepe  a  diligent  and  strict  Warden  by  daye  &  Wacth  by 
night  and  that  you  doe  vpon  Tewsdaye  the   26th  of  this  Instant  June  take 

*  See  History  of  Dorchester,  101,  124. 

t  Manuscript  of  the  late  Deacon  James  Humphreys,  who  died  in  Dorchester,  July  13, 
1845,  aged  92  years. 

t  See  Fourth  Report  of  the  Record  Commissioners,  Boston,  1880,  page  24. 

}  Clapp  Memorial,  xvii.,  274,  275. 

i|  "  The  parish  of  Wendover  includes  the  Borough  and  the  Forrens,  the  latter  being  tha  t 
portion,  within  the  limits  of  the  township,  which  was  not  entitled  to  burgage  privileges." 
Ibid,  xvii. 


37 

wth  you  sufficient  ayde  and  make  a  priuate  &  dilygent  search  wlhin  yor  lib- 
ertyes  for  Rogues  vagabonds  and  idle  persons  &  that  yow  bringe  before  his 
Ma'8:  Justices  to  the  place  aforesaid  on  the  sayd  27th  day  of  June  all  such 
of  them  as  shall  seeme  stuidve  dangerous  and  incorrigible  and  that  yow:  doe 
punish  &  send  away  accordinge  to  law  all  such  as  are  not  dangerous  &  in- 
corrigible and  that  yow:  be  then  &  there  prsent  to  giue  a  strict  accoirrpt  of 
the  due  execution  hereof  fayle  not  dated  this  20th  day  of  June  1632  : 
Ifrom  S'  Leonards  p  me     W"'  Gkaunge 

You  and  the  Church  wardens  remember  to  pay  the  q'teridge  for  the  kings 
bench  Marshalseys  and  inayned  souldyers  to  me  on  the  Day  abouesayd  at 
yor  towne. 

Warrant — Bucks. — 

Articles  to  be  diligently  enquired  of  and  distinctly  &  particulary  an- 
swered unto  in  writing  by  the  high  Constables  within  every  hundred,  and 
by  the  petty  Constables  &  Tithing  men  in  euery  parish,  town  &  hamlet,  at 
the  assises  to  be  holden  for  the  Countye  of  Bucks. 

1.  You  shall  enquire  of  and  truely  report  the  name   of  all  Popish  recu- 
sants in  your  parish  who  do  forbeare  to  repaire  to  the  Church  according  to 
the  law.       The  names  of  men  &  women  or  dame  of  the  Who  do  not 
familye,  The  names  of  the  servants   by  their  surnames     I        ordinarily 

&   names   of  baptisms,   the  names  of  all   Schollmasters  resort 

And  you  shall  certifye  the  names  of  all  such  persons,  as  to  the  Church 
make  or  resort  unto  any  pryvate  Conventicles,  or  meetings,  under  colour  of 
exercise  of  religion. 

2.  You  shall  present  the  names  of  all  such,  as  doe  not  resort  to  devine 
service  every  Sunday  according  to  the  law,  &  Certifye.  whether  the  12d  for- 
feyted  be  required  &  received  and  duely  imployed  for  the  poore  ;  of  whom  it 
hath  been  levied  &  of  whom  neglected. 

.'5.  You  shall  certifye,  what  felonyes  have  been  comited  within  your 
towne  &  parish,  which  have  come  to  your  knowledge :  against  whome,  of 
what  kind  &  nature.  &  who  hath  prosecuted  the  same  ;  &  if  any  robbe- 
ry es  since  the  assises  last  past  have  been  committed,  you  certifie  whether 
hue  and  cry  have  been  made,  and  the  same  have  been  duely  pursued  by 
horsemen  &  footmen,  or  in  whose  default,  or  by  whose  negligence  the 
same  hath  fay  led  to  be  duely  pursued,  &  also  whether  watches  have  been 
duely  kept  for  the  apprehension  of  fellions  or  vagrants,  or  by  whose  default 
the  same  have  been  neglected. 

•1.  You  shall  Certify'',  what,  vagrant  persons  have  been  apprehended 
within  your  parish  since  the  tynie  aforesaid,  and  what  lett  pass  not,  appre- 
hended, or  not  punished  ;  who  have  been  sent  to  the  house  of  correc- 
tion, when  &, how  they  have  been  delivered  from  thence  ;  &  liv  whose  neg- 
ligence same  hath  happened,  &  who  have  relieved  such  vagrants  with  meat, 
drink,  or  lodging. 

5.  You  shall  enquire  &  certifye  what  cottages  erected,  by  whom,  &  by 
whose  mealies  contrary  to  the  statute  of  3d  Kli/.  &  what  inmates  intertayn- 
ed,  &  by  whom. 

b.  You  shall  certifye  how  many  tavernes,  innes,  alehouses,  it  typling 
houses  their  arc  in  the  parish,  who  keep  the  same,  how  long  they  have  kept 
them.  &  which  of   these  alehouses  are    licensed,   and    which    not,  &  in  what 


38 

places  their  houses  stand,  &  whether  they  sell  ale  or  beere  according  to 
the  assise  or  not;  which  of  these  innes  intertayne  neighbours  as  alehouses ; 
who  hath  been  drunk  within  the  parish  since  the  last  assise,  &  in  what  inne 
or  alehouse,  the  same  hath  hapned,  &  who  have  mayntayned  any  urdawful 
games  their. 

7.  You  shall  enquire  who  are  or  have  been  since  the  tyme  aforesaid  in- 
grossers,  forestalled,  regrators,  of  corn  within  said  county,  or  any  other 
county,  who  dwell  or  reside  within  your  precinct,  what  kind  of  corne  or 
grain  &  of  what  quantitye  they  have  been  ingrossers,  &  forestallers,  or  re- 
grators ;  &  who  are  maltsters  within  your  parish  to  sell  there  mault  againe, 
&  who  use  brew  houses  for  ale  or  beere  within  your  parish,  &  who  of  them 
6ell  to  any  unlicensed  alehouse. 

8.  You  shall  certifie  the  names  of  all  the  petty  Constables  in  your  towne 
&  parish,  &  their  abilyties,  &  by  whom  they  have  been  made,  nominated, 
or  chosen  to  the  end  that  men  of  abilytie  &  good  discretion  maybe  choseu 
to  these  places. 

9.  You  shall  enquire,  &  certifye,  what  servants  have  been  put  out  of 
service,  or  have  put  themselves  out  of  service,  &  their  termes  not  expired, 
where  this  hath  hapned,  &  what  is  become  of  such  servants;  &  what  un- 
married persons  of  able  bodye  live  out  of  service,  whether  they  have  meanes 
to  live  without  labor ;  if  they  doe  labor,  who  sett  them  on  worke. 

10.  You  shall  enquire  what  bridges,  or  high  waves  are  in  decay  in  your 
parish,  &  through  whose  default  the  same  hath  hapned. 

11.  You  shall  enquire  and  certifie  what  causes  are  provided  in  your 
parish  for  setting  the  poore  on  worke,  or  how  or  by  what  meanes  the 
poore  are  sett  on  worke  in  your  parish  ;  &  what  apprentices  have  been 
placed,  or  bound  forth  in  your  parish,  &  who  refused  to  receive  &  keep  any 
apprentice  soe  offered  to  be  put  forth  by  the  Justices  of  peace  ;  what  bas- 
tard hath  been  born  within  your  parish,  who  the  mother,  who  the  reputed 
father,  how  they  have  been  punished,  &  how  the  bastard  provided  for. 

12.  You  shall  enquire  &  certifie  what  ryotts  have  beene  committed  in 
your  parish,  within  the  time  aforesayd,  by  whome,  when  &  how  the  same 
hath  beene  punished. 

High  Constable  of  the  hundred  shall  call  the  petty  constables  before  him, 
a  weeke  before  the  Assises,  &  receive  their  answers  in  writing,  to  every  one 
of  these  1 2  articles. 

And,  the  High  Constable  &  every  of  the  petty  Constables  shall  affirme 
the  truth  of  their  Certificates  upon  their  Oath,  on  or  before  the  Assises,  be- 
fore one  of  the  Justices  of  the  peace,  a  week  before  the  assises  or  at  the 
monthly  meetings  of  the  Justices  of  that  division. 

You  are  to  returne  answer  Jo.  Heath 

in  writing  to  euery  of  Fvs  Haynes 

these  12  articles  to  me 
at  Wendouer  the  27th 
of  June  alsoe. 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

IN 

Historical   and   Political   Science 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 


History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History.  —  Freeman 


IX-X 


VILLAGE  COMMUNITIES 


CAPE  ANNE  AND  SALEM 


From  the  Historical  Collections  of  the  Essex  Institute 


By  HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Ph.  D. 


BALTIMORE 

Published  ry  tiik  Johns  Hopkins  University 

JULY  AND  AUGUST,  1883. 


JOHN  MURPHY  &  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


IX-X 


VILLAGE  COMMUNITIES 


CAPE  ANNE  AND  SALEM 


"The  nature  of  everything  is  best  seen  in  its  smallest  portions." — Aristotle. 

"  The  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  came  out  of  the  townships  and  took 
possession  of  the  states.  Political  life  had  its  origin  in  the  townships ;  and  it  may  almost 
be  said  that  each  of  them  formed  an  independent  nation."—  Be  Tocqueville. 

"  By  Cape  Anne  there  is  a  plantation  a  beginning  by  the  Dorchester  [England]  men, 
which  they  hold  of  those  of  New  Plimoth."—  Captain  John  Smith. 

"In  planting  the  colony  at  Cape  Ann,  the  stock  was  consumed,  but  a  foundation  was 
laid  on  which  now  rests  one  of  the  leading  States  of -a  great  nation." — Babson,  Hist,  of 
Gloucester. 

"There  are  in  all  of  us,  both  old  and  new  planters,  about  three  hundred,  whereof 
two  hundred  of  them  are  settled  at  Nehum-kek,  now  called  Salem,  and  the  rest  have 
planted  themselves  at  Masathulets  Bay,  beginning  to  build  a  town  there,  which  we  do 
call  Cherton  or  Charles  town." — Higginson. 

"Some  native  merchant  of  the  East,  they  say, 
(Whether  Canton,  Calcutta  or  Bombay), 
Had  in  his  counting-room  a  map,  whereon 
Across  the  field  in  capitals  was  drawn 
The  name  of  SALEM,  meant  to  represent 
That  Salem  was  the  Western  Continent, 
While  in  an  upper  corner  was  put  down 
A  dot  named  Boston,  SALEM'S  leading  town."— Rev.  Charles  T.  Brooks. 


THE 

FISHER-PLANTATION 


AT 


CAPE    ANNE 


Br  Hkkuekt  B.  Adams. 


Early  in  the  year  1(524  Robert  Cushman,  the  chief  bus- 
iness agent  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers,  wrote  Governor  Brad- 
ford from  England:  "We  have  tooke  a  patente  for  Cape 
Anne."1  This  patent,  which  may  be  seen  in  the  library  of 
the  Essex  Institute  at  Salem,  was  issued  by  Lord  Sheffeild, 
a  member  of  the  Council  for  New  England,  to  the  asso- 
ciates of  Robert  Cushman  and  Edward  Winslow,  the  latter 
having  been  sent  to  England  in  1623  in  the  interests  of 
Plymouth  Colony.  The  patent  gave  "free  liberty,  to  rb'sh, 
fowle,  hawke,  and  hunt,  truck  and  trade"  in  the  region  of 
Cape  Anne.  Five  hundred  acres  of  land  were  to  be  re- 
served "for  puhlig  vscs,  as  for  the  building  of  a  Towne, 
Scholes,  Churches,  Ilospitalls"  and  for  the  maintenance  of 
such  ministers,  magistrates,  and  other  local  officers  as 
might  be  chosen  by  the  corporation.      Thirty  acres  of  land 


1  Bradford,  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation.  MO. 

(3) 


were  to  be  allotted  to  every  person,  young  or  old,  who 
should  come  and  dwell  at  Cape  Anne  within  the  next 
seven  years.  These  allotments  were  to  be  made  "in  one 
entire  place,  and  not  singling  indyvers  or  remote  parcells." 
The  whole  grant  was  not  to  exceed  one  and  a  half  miles 
in  length  along  the  water  front.  A  yearly  rent  of  twelve 
pence  were  to  be  paid  Lord  Sheffeild  for  every  thirty  acres 
occupied.  Authority  was  given  to  make  laws  and  ordi- 
nances for  the  government  of  the  plantation  and  to  repel 
intruders  by  force  of  arms. 

Such  was  the  legal  basis  for  the  settlement  and  defence 
of  an  English  town  upon  Cape  Anne,  where  Gloucester 
was  afterwards  built.  In  these  provisions  for  local  gov- 
ernment, schools,  churches,  hospitals,  freehold  land  tenure, 
and  commons  for  public  use,  we  recognize  the  leading  in- 
stitutions which  have  entered  into  the  town -life  of  New 
England.  The  idea  of  all  these  institutions  originated  in 
Old  England,  and  ancient  statutes  of  the  realm  are  full  of 
legislation  regarding  them.  Even  the  Yankee  disposition 
to  truck  and  trade,  to  hunt  and  fish,  was  inherited  from 
a  nation  of  traders  and  adventurers,  and  by  them  from 
their  Germanic  forefathers.  English  commerce  and  Eng- 
lish colonies  sprang  primarily  from  the  amber-dealing 
tribes  of  the  Baltic  and  sea-roving,  colonizing  bands  of 
Northmen.  The  spirit  of  Saxon  and  Norman  enterprise 
dawned  upon  New  England  from  shores  beyond  the 
ocean. 

But  the  Fisher  Plantation  at  Cape  Anne  proved  for  the 
Pilgrims  a  failure,  partly  because,  as  Bradford  says, 
"they  made  so  pore  a  bussines  of  their  fishing  ;"2  and 
partly  because  of  the  exorbitant  charges  by  English  mer- 
chants  for   advancing  colonial   goods.       Bradford  says, 

*  Bradford,  197. 


"they  put  40  in  ye  hundred  upon  them,  for  profite  and 
adventure,  outward  bound  ;  and  because  of  ye  venture 
of  ye  paiment  homeward,  they  would  have  30  in  ye  hun- 
dred more,  which  was  in  all  70  per  cent  !"3  The  audacity 
of  these  shop-keepers  who  wrote  their  "loving  friends" 
about  "  ye  glorie  of  God  and  the  furthrance  of  our  coun- 
trie-men"  is,  however,  less  amazing  than  the  fearless  en- 
terprise of  the  colonists  who  dared  to  assume  such  finan- 
cial burdens,  and  actually  succeeded,  in  a  few  years,  in 
paying  oil"  a  debt  of  £2,400.  They  did  it  by  an  extensive 
fur-trade  with  the  Indians,  whom  they  paid  in  wampum, 
the  value  of  which  the  Pilgrims  had  learned  from  Dutch 
traders,  and  the  art  of  manufacturing  which  from  qua- 
haugs  and  periwinkles,  they  probably  acquired  from  the 
Narragansetts.4 


*  Bradford,  201.  James  Shirley,  one  of  the  English  capitalists,  writing  to  Gov- 
ernor Bradford,  says:  ''It  is  true  (as  you  write)  that  your  ingagments  are  great, 
not  only  the  purchass,  but  you  are  yet  necessitated  to  take  up  y«  stock  you  work 
upon  ;  and  that  not  at  6  or  8  per  cent,  as  it  is  here  let  out,  hut  at  30.  40,  and  some 
at  00  per  cent,  which,  were  not  your gaiuos  great,  and  God's  blessing  on  your  honest 
indeaours  more  then  ordinarie,  it  could  not  be  y<  you  should  longe  subei6te  in 
y°  maintaining  of,  &  upholding  of  your  worldly  affaires"  (Bradford,  228-9).  Such 
facts  are  very  solid  testimony  in  favor  of  the  business  energy  of  the  Pilgrim 
fathers. 

4  "That  which  turned  most  to  their  profite,"  says  Bradford  (234)  "was  an 
entrance  into  the  trade  of  Wampampeake"  (wompam  and  peag).  They  learned 
the  value  of  this  kind  of  currency  from  the  Dutch  who  "  tould  them  how  vendable 
it  was  at  their  forte  Orania"  (Fort  Orange,  or  Albany).  The  Pilgrims  bought 
£50  worth  of  this  shell  money  from  the  Dutch,  and  introduced  it  in  payment  for 
beaver  and  other  peltry,  among  the  inland  tribes  of  New  England,  and  at  the 
Plymouth  trading  post  on  the  Kennebec.  "At  first",  says  Bradford,  very  naively, 
"  it  stuck,  &  it  was  2  years  before  they,  [i.  e.  the  Plymouth  people]  could  put  of 
this  small  quantity,  till  y*  inland  people  knew  of  it;  and  afterward  they  could 
scarce  ever  y<tt  enough  for  them,  for  many  years  togeatlicr."  We  have  been  told 
by  a  local  antiquary  in  Plymouth  that  the  Pilgrims  established  a  manufactory  of 
fiat  wampum  upon  Plymouth  beach.  Probably  they  got  the  idea  from  the  Ithode 
Island  Indians,  "for,"  as  Bradford  says,  "ye  Narigansets  doe  geather  ye  shells  of 
which  yey  make  it  from  their  shors"  (235).  Compare  Hubbard's  History  of  New 
Kngland,  to  100;  Wheildon's  Curiosities  of  History,  32;  Arnold's  Ithode  Island, 
i,  81 ;  Collections  of  Rhode  Island  Hist.  Soc.,  iii.  20  et  scq.  There  appear  to  have 
been  two  sorts  of  shell-money ; 'the  black  or  dark-purple,  which  was  made  from 
quahaugs  or  round  clams,  ami  the  white,  which  was  made  from  the  stem  of 
periwinkles.    J.  Hammond  Trumbull  says  "  wompam  was  the  name  of  the  white 


6 

English  speculators  were  not  slow  to  realize  the  pos- 
sible advantages  which  might  accrue  from  an  occupation 
of  the  stern  and  rock-bound  coast  of  New  England. 
Even  before  the  issue  of  the  Cape  Anne  patent  to  men  of 
Plymouth,  certain  merchants  from  the  west  of  England, 
especially  of  Dorchester,6  had  sent  their  agents  to  catch 
fish  off  the  promontory  of  Cape  Anne,  which  in  1614  had 
been  named  "Tragabizanda  "  by  Captain  John  Smith  "for 
the  sake  of  a  lady  from  whom  he  received  much  favor 
while  he  was  a  prisoner  amongst  the  Turks,"6  but  which 
soon  gracefully  yielded  to  the  baptismal  name  of  the  con- 
sort of  King  James.  In  1624,  encouraged  by  the  fame  of 
New  Plymouth  and  by  the  Rev.  John  White  of  Dorches- 
ter, the  merchants  of  that  neighborhood  sent  over  sundry 
persons  to  carry  on  a  regular  plantation  at  Cape  Anne, 
"conceiving  that  planting  on  the  laud  might  go  on  equally 
with  fishing  on  the  sea."  John  Tylly  was  appointed 
overseer  of  the  fisheries  and  Thomas  Gardener,  of  the 
plantation,  at  least  for  one  year.  At  the  end  of  that  time, 

beads  collectively;  when  strung  or  wrought  in  girdles,  they  constituted  waumpeg 
....  The  English  called  all  peag,  or  strung  beads,  by  the  name  of  the  white, 
wampom,"  see  pp.  140,  175-7,  of  his  edition  of  Roger  Williams,  "  Key  into  the 
language  of  America,"  Publications  of  the  Narragansett  Club,  vol.  i.  This  remark- 
able treatise  by  Roger  Williams,  which  may  also  be  found  in  the  Collections  of 
the  Rhode  Island  Hist.  Soc.  vol.  17-163,  contains  a  chapter  on  Indian  Money 
or  "  Coyne,"  which  is,  perhaps,  the  most  authentic  source  of  original  information 
concerning  this  subject.  Other  notices  may  be  found  in  Wood's  New  England's 
Prospect  ii,  cap.  3;  Lechford's  Plaine  Dealing,  (Trumbull's  ed.  1867)  116;  and 
Josselyn's  Account  of  Two  Voyages  to  New  England  (ed.  1865)  110-11.  The  latter 
says  the  Indians  work  out  their  money  "  so  cunningly  that  neither  Jew  nor  devil 
can  counterfeit." 

'Hubbard,  General  History  of  New  England,  105. 

'Ibid.  Compare  Capt.  John  Smith's  description  of  New  England  (ed.  1865)  17, 
where  we  find  "Cape  Trabigzanda"  given  as  the  old  name  of  "Cape  Anne."  Else- 
where, 44,  he  speaks  of  "  the  faire  headland  Tragabigzanda."  However  the  Turkish 
beauty  would  have  spelled  her  name  if  she  had  had  a  chance,  it  is  quite  certain 
that  Princess  Anne  of  Denmark  (1589-1619),  daughter  of  Frederic  II,  spelled  hers 
with  an  "e."  The  Patent  was  for  "Cape  Anne"  and  the  older  writers  all  have 
it  so.  Thornton  also  adopts  this,  the  true  historic  form.  Although  Cape  Ann  is 
now  sanctioned  by  popular  usage,  it  is  nevertheless  a  kind  of  slipshod  vulgarism, 
like  Rapidan  for  Rapid  Ann,  Mary  Ann  for  Marianne  or  Mariana. 


Roger  Conant  was  made  governor.  The  little  colony 
appears  to  have  sheltered  itself  under  the  protection  of 
the  Plymouth  patent.7  Captain  John  Smith,  in  his  Gen- 
erall  Historie,  which  was  published  in  1624,  with  an  ab- 
stract of  Mourt's  Relation,  says  "by  Cape  Anne  there  is  a 
plantation  a  beginning  by  the  Dorchester  men,  which 
they  hold  of  those  of  New  Plimoth,  who  also  I)}'  them 
have  set  up  a  fishing  worko."8 

A  quarrel  soon  broke  out  between  the  two  parties.  In 
the  absence  of  the  Plymouth  fishermen,  some  Dorchester 
employes,  under  the  command  of  one  Mr.  Hewes,  came 
over  to  Cape  Anne  and  took  possession  of  a  fishing  stage 
built  by  Plymouth  people  the  year  before.  Captain 
Stand ish  and  his  men  came  up  and  peremptorily  de- 
manded the  restoration  of  the  staging.  The  occupants 
barricaded  themselves  upon  it  with  hogsheads,  while  the 
Captain's  party  stood  threatening  upon  shore.  The  dis- 
pute grew  hot,  says  Hubbard,  and  high  words  passed  be- 
tween the  opposing  parties.  The  affair  might  have  ended 
in  blood  and  slaughter,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  prudence 
and  moderation  of  Governor  Conant,  who  promised  the 
Plymouth  men  that  another  staging  should  be  built  for 
them.  Hubbard's  pious  condemnation  of  Standish,  who 
undoubtedly  had  justice  on  his  side,  is  an  unconscious 
satire  upon  "the  unco  guid  "  spirit  which  pervades  early 
New  England  history.  "  Captain  Standish  had  been  bred 
a  soldier  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  had  never  entered  the 
school  of  our  Savior  Christ,  or  of  John  the  Baptist,  his 
harbinger,  or,  if  he  was  ever  there,  had  forgot  his  first 
lessons,  to  oiler  violence  to  no  man,  and  to  part  with  the 


'Thornton,  Landing  at  Cape  Anne,  for  text  of  Patent  ami  interesting  observa- 
tions thereon,  31-47. 

•  Smith,  General!  Historic,  247.  Cf.  Bradford,  Hist,  or  Plymouth  Plantation, 
note  by  Mr.  Deane,  1G9. 


8 

cloak  rather  than  needlessly  contend  for  the  coat,  though 
taken  away  without  order.  A  little  chimney  is  soon 
fired ;  so  was  the  Plymouth  captain,  a  man  of  very 
little  stature,  yet  of  very  hot  and  angry  temper.  The 
fire  of  his  passion  soon  kindled  and  blown  up  into  a 
flame  by  hot  words,  might  easily  have  consumed  all,  had 
it  not  been  seasonably  quenched."9  The  conduct  of  Stand- 
ish,  instead  of  being  reprehensible,  appears  to  have  been, 
on  the  whole,  remarkably  forbearing. 

Hubbard  also  speaks  in  rather  contemptuous  terms  of 
the  Plymouth  title  to  Cape  Anne  as  "a  useless  Patent."10 
It  was  the  only  legal  basis  that  the  Cape  Anne  colony 
ever  had,  but  it  is  truly  remarkable  that  the  Dorchester 
intruders  should  have  asserted  the  right  of  defence,  which 
the  patent  gave  the  Plymouth  people  and  their  associates, 
against  the  real  owners  of  the  soil  and  have  finally 
expelled  them  altogether.  This  was  the  virtual  conclu- 
sion of  the  whole  matter :  the  Plymouth  people  went  off 
to  the  Kennebec  in  1625,11  and  the  Dorchester  men  re- 
mained in  possession  of.  Cape   Anne.     There  was  more 

•  Hubbard,  110-11.    Cf.  Bradford,  196.  i»  Hubbard,  110. 

uIn  the  latter  part  of  the  above  year  the  Plymouth  people  sent  a  boat-load  of 
Indian  corn  up  the  Kennebec  river,  and  brought  home  700  lbs.  of  beaver  skins,  be- 
sides other  peltry.    Bradford,  204. 

In  the  year  1627,  Plymouth  colony  sent  Mr.  Allerton  to  England  with  "what 
beaver  they  could  spare  to  pay  some  of  their  ingagements,  &  to  defray  his  chargs ; 
for  those  deepe  interests  still  keptethem  loto.  Also  he  had  order  to  procure  apatente 
for  a  fltt  trading  place  in  ye  river  of Kenebeck;  for  being  emulated  both  by  the 
planters  at  Piscataway  &  other  places  to  ye  eastward  of  them,  and  allso  by  ye 
fishing  ships,  which  used  to  draw  much  proflte  from  ye  Indeans  of  those  parts, 
they  [the  Plymouth  people]  threatened  to  procure  a  grante,  <f  shutte  them  out  from 
thence  .•  espetially  after  they  saw  them  so  well  furnished  with  commodities,  as  to 
carie  the  trade  from  them  [Plymouth].  They  thought  it  but  needful  to  prevent© 
such  a  thing,  at  least  that  they  might  not  be  excluded  from  free  trade  ther,  wher 
them  selves  had  first  begune  and  discovered  the  same,  and  brought  it  to  so  good 
effecte."  We  perceive  by  this  extract  from  Bradford's  History  (221-2)  that  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  were  wise  in  their  own  generation.  With  the  Kennebec  trading- 
post  in  mind,  Messrs.  Bradford,  Standish,  Allerton,  Winslow,  Brewster,  Howland, 
Alden,  and  Prince  hired  the  trade  of  Plymouth  colony  for  a  term  of  six  years, 
assumed  all  the  debts  of  the  corporation,  bought  off  the  Merchant  Adventurers 
(retaining  the  aid  of  a  few  of  the  more  honorable  capitalists),  and  thus  placed  the 
affairs  of  New  Plymouth  upon  a  good  business  foundation.    Bradford,  226-32. 


method  in  the  above  seizure  of  the  Plymouth  staging  than 
would  appear  from  Hubbard's  account.  It  seems  from 
Bradford's  version  of  the  affair  that  certain  of  the  mer- 
chant adventurers,  who  had  fitted  out  the  Plymouth  col- 
ony, were  now  trying  to  dislodge  them  from  their  fishing 
station.  Already  factions  had  arisen  among  the  English 
company,  and  "  some  of  Ly fords  &  Oldoms  friends,  and 
their  adherents,  set  out  a  shipe  on  fishing,  on  their  owne 
accounte,  and  getting  ye  starte  of  ye  ships  [of  Plymouth] 
that  came  to  the  plantation,  they  tooke  away  their  stage, 
&  other  necessary  provisions  that  they  had  made  for  fish- 
ing at  Cap-Anne  ye  year  before,  at  their  great  charge, 
and  would  not  restore  ye  same,  exccpte  they  would  fight 
for  it."12 

The  first  foundation  of  Massachusetts  was  for  the  same 
end  as  the  first  occupation  of  the  islands  of  Venice,  namely, 
for  fishery.  There  is  a  more  general  truth  than  is  usual- 
ly imagined  in  the  story  told  in  Cotton  Mather's  Mag- 
nalia  of  the  Puritan  minister  who  once  ventured  to  address 
a  congregation  of  fishermen  at  Marblehead.  He  was  ex- 
horting them  to  be  a  religious  people,  otherwise,  he  said, 
you  will  contradict  the  main  end  of  planting  this  wilder- 
ness. "Sir,"  said  one  of  the  fishermen,  ''you  are  mis- 
taken. You  think  you  are  preaching  to  the  people  at 
the  Bay.  Our  main  end  was  to  catch  fish"  !u  Without 
doubt,  both  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  had  religious  motives 
in  coming  to  America,  but  they  had  also  secular  motives. 
As  English  colonists  under  English  law,  they  came  to  plant 
civil  as  well  as  religious  society,  and  they  distinguished 
more  sharply  between  things  civil  and  ecclesiastical  than 
is  commonly  supposed.  Moreover,  the  investment  of 
English    capital    in  the   colonial    enterprise  of  both    Pil- 


"  Itrailford,  l»i.    Cf.  169,  note. 
13  Young,  Chronicles  of  Mass.,  6. 


10 

grims  and  Puritans  cannot  be  explained  upon  religious 
grounds.  The  prospective  fur-trade  and  fisheries  procured 
financial  support  for  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts.  When 
Pilgrim  agents  were  soliciting  King  James  for  a  colonial  pa- 
tent, he  inquired  what  profits  might  arise.  "Fishing,"  they 
replied  laconically.  "So  God  have  my  soul,"  said  the  King, 
"'tis  an  honest  trade  ;  'twas  the  Apostles'  own  calling."14 
But  fishing  never  proved  very  profitable  to  Plymouth  in 
early  times.  The  Pilgrims  had  such  constant  bad  luck 
that  it  became  proverbial,  "a  thing  fatal."15  Bradford 
said  they  "had  allway  lost  by  fishing."16  Their  chief  bus- 
iness success  lay  in  trading  wampum  and  Indian  corn  for 
beaver-skins  and  other  peltry.  On  the  other  hand,  not 
merely  the  material  support  but  the  original  motive  for 
the  Cape  Anne  Colony,  which  was  the  first  foundation  of 
Massachusetts,  lay  chiefly  in  the  fisheries.  "During  the 
whole  lustre  of  years,  from  1625",  says  Hubbard,  "there 
was  little  matter  of  moment  acted  in  the  Massachusetts, 
till  the  year  1629,  after  the  obtaining  the  Patent;  the 
former  years  being  spent  in  fishing  and  trading  by  the 
agents  of  the  Dorchester  merchants,  and  some  others  of 
West  Country."17  Long  previous  to  1625  "the  foresaid 
merchants  .  .  .  yearly  sent  their  ships  thither"18  to  Cape 
Anne  for  purposes  of  fishing.  The  idea  of  a  permanent 
plantation  there  was  suggested  by  the  prosperity  of  Ply- 
mouth, but  the  plantation  was  to  be  mainly  in  aid  19  of  the 
fisheries.  Fishing  continued  to  be  and  has  always  been 
the  chief  interest  at  Cape  Anne.  It  was  for  the  possession 
of  this  vantage  ground  that  the  Pilgrims  and  Dorchester 
employes  were  rivals. 

The  planters  of  Cape  Anne,  who  professed  themselves 


14  Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,  383.       "  Bradford,  168,       16  Ibid,  262. 

"  Hubbard,  110.  «  Ibid,  106. 

l*  White,  Planter's  Plea,  in  Young's  Chron.  of  Mass.,  6-6. 


11 

"servants  of  the  Dorchester  Company"20  were  by  no  means 
irreligious  men.  They  leaned,  however,  more  towards 
the  Church  of  England  than  toward  the  Separatism  of 
Plymouth.  Hubbard  says  "the  Adventurers,  hearing  of 
some  religious  and  well-affected  persons,  that  were  lately 
removed  out  of  New  Plymouth,  out  of  dislike  of  their 
principles  of  rigid  Separation  (of  which  number  Mr. 
Roger  Conant  was  one,  a  religious,  sober,  and  prudent 
gentleman  .  .  .)  they  pitched  upon  him  for  the  managing 
and  government  of  all  their  affairs  at  Cape  Anne.  .  .  . 
Together  with  him,  likewise,  they  invited  Mr.  Lyford, 
lately  dismissed  from  Plymouth,  to  be  the  minister  of  the 
place  ;  and  Mr.  Oldham,  also  discharged  on  the  like  account 
from  Plymouth,  was  invited  to  trade  for  them  with  the 
Indians.  All  these  three  at  that  time  had  their  dwelling  at 
Nantasket.  Mr.  Lyford  accepted,  and  came  along  with 
Mr.  Conant.  Mr.  Oldham  liked  better  to  stay  where  he 
was  for  awhile,  and  trade  for  himself,  and  not  become  liable 
to  give  an  account  of  his  gain  or  loss.  But  after  a  year's 
experience,  the  Adventurers,  perceiving  their  design  not 
like  to  answer  their  expectation,  at  least  as  to  any  present 
advantage,  threw  all  up  ;  yet  were  so  civil  to  those  that 
were  employed  under  them,  as  to  pay  them  all  their 
ivages,  and  proffered  to  transport  them  back  whence  they 
came,  if  so  they  desired."21 

The  Cape  Anne  experiment  thus  proved  a  failure  for 
the  Dorchester  merchants,  as  it  had  done  for  the  Pilgrim 
fathers.  It  would  obviously  be  quite  as  unfair  to  ascribe 
to  base  and  material  motives  the  failure  of  the  merchants 
in  planting  a  sterile  shore  as  it  would  to  ascribe  to  spirit- 
ual considerations  the  failure  of  the  Pilgrims  in  fishing  a 
barren    sea.     The  Dorchester  merchants  appear  to  have 


,0  Thornton,  Landing   at  Cape  Anne,  58,  59;  see  depositions  of  Woodbury  ami 
Brackenbury.  "  Hubbard.  10U-7. 


12 

been  very  honorable  and  generous  men.  The  Reverend 
John  White,  whom  Hubbard  calls  "one  of  the  chief  foun- 
ders of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,"22  was  associated  with 
them  as  a  stock-owner  (as  he  probably  had  been  with  the 
capitalists  who  fitted  out  the  Plymouth  colony23 )  although, 
as  Wood  tells  us,  he  "conformed  to  the  ceremonies  of  the 
Church  of  England."24  The  explanation  of  the  failure  of 
the  Cape  Anne  enterprise  is  not  to  be  sought  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  men,  for  a  better  set  of  colonists  never  trod 
the  shores  of  the  New  World  than  the  Old  Planters  25  who 
left  the  unproductive  Cape  and  founded  the  town  of  Sa- 
lem. The  plain  fact  is  that  the  spot  originally  chosen 
was  a  poor  one  for  a  new  plantation.  Roger  Conant  never 
liked  the  place,  and  soon  began  to  make  inquiries  for  one 
more  commodious,  which  he  found  a  little  southwest- 
ward  from  Cape  Anne,  upon  the  further  side  of  a  creek 
called  Naumkeag.  Cape  Anne  was  consequently  aban- 
doned, but  it  was  the  stepping-stone  to  Salem. 

™  Ibid,  107. 

s»  Bradford's  Letter-Book,  Collections  of  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  1st  series,  iii,  48,  for 
list  of  Plymouth  adventurers.    Cf.    Bradford's  History,  note  by  the  editor,  213. 

34  Young's  Chronicles  of  Mass.,  26,  note. 

»6  The  best  account  of  the  antecedents  and  belongings  of  the  Old  Planters  of 
Salem  may  be  found  in  George  D.  Phippen's  article  upon  this  subject  in  the  Hist. 
Coll.  of  the  Essex  Institute,  i,  97  et  seq.  Thornton's  Landing  at  Cape  Anne  is 
also  a  pioneer  effort  in  this  interesting  Held  of  Massachusetts  beginnings.  The  stu- 
dent of  Hubbard  would  naturally  infer  that  only  four  or  five  men  removed  with 
Roger  Conant  from  Cape  Anne  to  Naumkeag,  but  Mr.  Phippen  shows  that  there 
were  more  than  a  dozen  emigrants.  He  gives  the  following  list;  Roger  Conant, 
(governor),  John  Lyford  (minister),  John  Woodbury  (who  became  the  first  con- 
stable of  Salem),  Humphrey  Woodbury,  John  Balch  (ancestor  of  the  Beverly 
Balches),  Peter  Palfrey  (progenitor  of  the  historian  of  New  England),  Capt.  Traske 
(ancestor  of  W.  B.  Traske  of  Dorchester,  who  lately  transcribed  the  Suffolk  Deeds), 
William  Jeffrey,  John  Tylly,  Thomas  Gardner,  William  Allen,  Thomas  Gray,  Wal- 
ter Knight,  Richard  Norman  and  his  son  of  the  same  name,  which  clings  yet  to 
the  reef  of  Norman's  Woe,  where  one  of  the  family  was  lost.  Compare  Thorn- 
ton's list  (Landing  at  Cape  Anne,  63).  Mr.  Phippen  thinks  that,  including  men, 
women  and  children,  there  must  have  been,  at  least,  thirty  people  in  the  little  mi- 
gration which  colonized  Salem.  The  colony  at  Cape  Anne,  he  conjectures,  num- 
bered not  far  from  fifty  persons.  White,  in  his  Planter's  Plea,  says,  "In  building 
bouses  the  first  stones  of  the  foundation  are  buried  underground  and  are  not  seen." 
We  shall  find  the  Old  Planters  very  lively  stones  in  the  upbuilding  of  Salem. 


ORIGIN 


SALEM   PLANTATION 


Br  Herbert  B.  Adams. 


One  of  the  proximate  causes  for  the  removal  of  Roger 
Conant  and  his  associates  to  the  green,  inviting  meadows 
of  Naumkeag  was  undoubtedly  the  desire  of  obtaining 
better  accommodations  for  the  pasturing  of  cattle.  Some 
of  the  colonists  had  now  gone  home  to  England  or  had  re- 
sumed their  seafaring  life;  "but  a  few  of  the  most  hon- 
est and  industrious,"  as  the  Reverend  John  White  tells  us 
in  his  Planters'  Plea,  "resolved  to  stay  behind  and  take 
charge  of  the  cattle  sent  over  the  year  before."1  Not  lik- 
ing the  pastoral  facilities  of  Cape  Anne,  which  White 
says  had  been  chosen  rather  on  account  of  its  advantages 
for  fishing,  the  little  company  of  a  do/en    or  more  men, 


•White,  Planters'  Plea,  In  Young's  Chronicles  of  Massachusetts,  12. 
This  l'lea  was  obviously  written  In  the  interests  of  the  colonization  as  a  business. 
The  work  is  lull  of  llnancial  data,  matters  of  profit  anil  loss  in  the  llshcries  and  fur- 
trade,  and  throws  more  li^'lit  upon  "the  causes  moving  such  a-  have  lately  vndcr- 
taken  a  plantation  in  New  England"  than  any  existing  documentary  evidence, 
apart  from  the  original  records  of  the  Massachusetts  Company. 

(13) 


14 

who  now  remained,  transported  themselves  witli  their  fam- 
ilies and  cattle,  to  Naumkeag,  where  they  found  fresh 
fields  and  pastures  new.  A  common  for  pasture  was  Sa- 
lem, therefore,  in  its  historic  origin,  and  a  common  for 
historical  browsing  does  Salem  yet  remain. 

Another  occasion  for  the  original  occupation  of  Naum- 
keag was  the  excellent  opportunity  here  presented  for 
raising  Indian  corn.  We  are  told  by  an  almost  contem- 
porary historian,  who  probably  obtained  his  information 
from  Roger  Conant  himself,  that  Naumkeag  "afforded  a 

considerable    quantity    of  planting   land, 

Here,"  continues  Hubbard  in  his  narrative,  "they  took  up 
their  station  upon  a  pleasant  and  fruitful  neck  of  land,  en- 
vironed with  an  arm  of  the  sea  on  each  side".2  It  ap- 
pears that  the  place  was  to  a  considerable  extent,  an  open 
tract  of  country.  It  was  certainly  the  inviting  meadow 
and  the  "quantity  of  planting  land"  which  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  first  explorers.  Here  they  found,  already 
cleared  for  their  use,  what  the  ancient  Germans  would 
have  termed  a  Mark.  Here  lay  the  camporum  spatia?  the 
wide-extending  open  spaces,  in  which,  according  to  Tacitus, 
the  Germans  found  division  of  land  an  easy  matter.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  the  first  settlers  of  Naumkeag:  found 
here  as  good  an  opening  as  did  many  German  villages  in 
the  Black  Forest  or  the  Odenwald.  The  Reverend  Fran- 
cis Higginson,  in  his  New  England's  Plantation,  says, 
"Though  all  the  country  be,  as  it  were,  a  thick  wood  for 
the  general,  yet  in  divers  places,  there  is  much  ground 
cleared  by  the  Indians,  and  especially  about  the  Planta- 
tion [Naumkeag]  ;  and  I  am  told  that  about  three  miles 
from  us  a  man  may  stand  on  a  little  hilly  place  and  see  di- 


8  Young's  Chron.  of  Mass.,  21. 
*  Tacitus,  Germania,  Cap.  26. 


15 

vers  thousands  of  acres  of  ground  as  good  as  need  to  be, 
and  not  a  tree  in  the  same."4 

It  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  facts  connected  with 
the  plantation  of  many  New  England  towns  that  they 
were  built  upon  open  spaces  formerly  cultivated  by  the  In- 
dians. Plymouth  was  planted,  not  under  "the  rocking 
pines  of  the  forest"  but  in  an  old  Indian  corn-field,  prob- 
ably near  the  site  of  some  ancient  Indian  village,  which 
had  been  devastated  by  the  pestilence  that  swept  off  so 
many  Indian  tribes  before  the  English  came  over.  The 
Pilgrim  record  says,  "we  came  to  a  conclusion  by  most 
voices,  to  set  on  the  main  land,  .  .  upon  a  high 
ground,  where  there  is  a  great  deal  of  land  cleared,  and 
hath  been  planted  with  corn  three  or  fouryears  ago."5  Al- 
though there  is  no  such  original  record  of  the  planters  of 
Naumkeag,  yet  doubtless  it  was  by  some  such  informal 
vote,  by  the  agreement  of  the  greatest  number,  that 
Roger  Conant  and  his  little  company  determined  to  occupy 
this  "pleasant  and  fruitful  neck  of  land."  So  pleasant,  in 
fact,  and  at  the  same  time  so  ancient  did  the  Puritan  clergy 
afterward  consider  this    old  Indian  locality,  that  some  of 


*  Francis  Eligginson,  New  England's  Plantation  (Young,  244.) 
Thomas  Graves,  also,  a  professional  engineer  and  surveyor,  who  came  over  with 
Hlgginson,  to  lay  out  towns  and  investigate  the  resources  of  the  country,  its  mines, 
minerals,  salt  springs,  etc.,  con  linns  the  above  testimony.  Graves  had  been  a  great 
"traveller  in  diver--  foreign  parts,"  but  says,  ''Thus  much  1  can  a  111  nil  in  general,  that 
I  never  came  in  a  more  goodly  country  in  all  my  life,  all  things  considered.  If  it 
hath  not  at  any  time  been  manured  and  husbanded,  yet  it  is  very  beautiful  in  open 
lands  mixed  with  goodly  woods,  and  again  open  plains,  in  some  places  live  hun- 
dred acres,  some  places  more,  some  less,  not  much  troublesome  for  to  clear  for 
the  plough  to  go  in;  no  place  barren  but  on  the  tops  of  the  bills.  The  grass  and 
weeds  grow  up  to  a  man's  face  in  the  lowlands,  and  by  fresh  rivers  abundance  of 
grass  and  large  meadows,  without  any  tree  or  shrub  to  hinder  the  bcj  the."  Graves 
says  that,  for  cattle,  corn,  and  grapes,  he  never  saw  any  such  land,  except  in  Ger- 
many and  Hungary,  to  which  latter  country  he  is  always  inclined  to  liken  New 
England.  See  Young,  364.  For  an  interesting  note  on  Thomas  Graves,  see  Young, 
152. 

n  Mourt's  Relation,  or  the  Journal  of  liradford  and  Winslow,  in  Young's  Chron- 
icles of  the  Pilgrims,  124,  107,200,  829;  Young's  tin  on.  id   Mass.  244. 


16 

the  more  learned  divines  were  disposed  to  identify  Naum- 
keag  with  the  Hebrew  Nahumkeike,  signifying  by  inter- 
pretation, the  "bosom  of  consolation,"  or,  as  Cotton 
Mather  said,  a  "haven  of  comfort."6  And  Francis  Hig- 
ginson,  who,  with  "a  company  of  honest  planters,"  joined 
the  original  settlers,  called  the  place  Salem  from  the  Peace,7 
which  they  found  here ;  although,  according  to  another 
account,  there  arose  some  little  jealousy  between  the  old 
and  new  comers,  which  was  finally  allayed,  the  new  He- 
brew name  then  replacing  the  old  by  common  consent  to 
commemorate  the  establishment  of  an  era  of  good  feeling 
among  neighbors.8  But  without  laying  stress  upon  pious 
etymologies,  or  upon  the  theory  that  Salem  was  once  the 
abode  of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel,  we  may  safely  say  that 
the  discouraged  fishermen  from  Cape  Anne  found  here  a 
tolerably  attractive  opening  in  what  has  been  called  "an 
immeasurable  expanse  of  lofty  forests  shrouded  in  the  sable 
gloom  of  ages."9  We  may  also  rest  assured  that  the  Puri- 
tans, wandering  away  from  their  mother  country  and  mother 
church,  sought  and  found  here  upon  this  beautiful  neck  of 
Indian  land,  within  the  arms  of  the  sea,  that  peace  which 
the  exiled  Dante  10  found  only  in  his  grave. 

The  forest  clearing  originally  occupied  by  the  planters 


«  Mather,  Magnalia,  i,  328. 

T  Higginson's  Journal  in  Young's  Chron.  of  Mass.,  21. 

8  Young,  Chron.  of  Mass.,  12,  21,  31,  145.  The  name  of  Concord,  N.  H.,  was 
thus  chosen  to  commemorate  the  establishment  of  peace  between  two  rival  juris- 
dictions. 

8  Drake,  History  and  Antiquities  of  Boston,  56  (a  passage  concerning  the  condi- 
tion of  the  country  about  Conant's  plantation). 

10  Dante's  Divine  Comedy,  Inferno.  Longfellow's  Illustrations,  Letter  of  Frate 
Ilario:  "Hither  he  came,  passing  through  the  diocese  of  Luni,  moved  either  by 
the  religion  of  the  place,  or  by  some  other  feeling.  And  seeing  him,  as  yet  un- 
known to  me  and  to  all  my  brethren,  I  questioned  him  of  his  wishings  and  his 
seekings  there.  He  moved  not ;  but  stood  silently  contemplating  the  columns  and 
arches  of  the  cloister.  And  again  I  asked  him  what  he  wished,  and  whom  he 
sought.  Then,  slowly  turning  his  head,  and  looking  at  the  friars  and  at  me,  he 
answered:    "Peace." 


17 

of  Naumkcag  was  held  by  them  in  virtual  commonage. 
They  were  acting  as  representatives  of  the  Dorchester 
Company,  which  had  sent  over  the  very  cattle  that  the 
colonists  were  now  trying  to  preserve  in  the  interest  of 
their  patrons.  For  the  encouragement  of  these  faithful 
men  and  as  an  earnest  of  future  aid  towards  the  establish- 
ment of  a  permanent  plantation,  the  Dorchester  merchants 
who  had  now  combined  with  some  London  capitalists,  sent 
over  in  162(!  twenty-four  additional  kinc.11  These  also 
must  have  been  pastured  as  a  common  herd  together  with 
the  creatures  sent  over  in  1625.  A  common  of  pasturage, 
therefore,  was  the  open  country  about  Salem  from  the  very 
beginning.  There  is  some  reason  for  believing  that  plant- 
ing  ground  was  taken  up  by  the  white  settlers  in  common 
with  the  Indians.  In  the  deposition  made  by  William  Dixy, 
of  Beverly,  in  1G80,  to  confirm  Salem's  Indian  land  titles, 
occurs  the  following  interesting  testimony:  "I  came  to 
New  England  and  ariued  in  June  1029  at  cape  an,  where 
wee  found  the  signes  of  buildings  and  plantation  work, 
and  saw  noe  English  people,  soe  we  sailed  to  the  place  now 
caled  Salem,  where  we  found  Mr.  John  Endecott,  Gouer- 
nor  and  sundry  inhabitants  besides  :  sonic  of  whom  sd 
they  had  beene  seruants  to  the  Dorchester  company  :  iSc  had 
built  at  eape  an  sundry  yeares  before  wee  came  oner, — when 
we  came  to  dwell  heare  the  Indians  bid  vs  welcome  and 
shewed  themselues  very  glad  that  we  came  to  dwell  among 
them,  and  I  vnderstood  they  had  kindly  entertained  the 
English  y*  came  bother  before  wee  came,  and  the  English 
and  the  Indians  had  a  feild  in  comon  fenced  in  together. nx* 
There  is  sutlicient  evidence  of  the  friendly  relations  exist- 


11  White,  Planter's  l'lea,  in  Young's  Chron.  of  Mass..  12. 

"  Thornton,  Landing  at  Cape  Anne,  81.  Compare  the  depositions  of  oilier  old 
settlers,  given  in  Thornton's  appendix,  in  regard  to  the  title  from  the  Indians,  also 
the  Indian  deed  of  lands. 


18 

ing  between  the  early  settlers  and  the  natives,  and  of  the 
fact  that  both  planted  side  by  side.  Nowhere  else  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, save  in  the  town  of  Stockbridge,  have  we  as 
yet  found  more  delightful  tokens  of  a  recognized  commu- 
nity of  village  interests  between  the  white  and  red  men 
than  in  the  peaceful  town  of  Salem,  the  Indian  Naumkeag. 

In  Stockbridge,  Indians  not  only  owned  lands13  in  com- 
mon with  the  whites,  but  shared  in  the  town  offices,  voted 
in  town  meeting,  and  communed  with  their  pale  faced 
brethren  in  the  church.  The  Naumkeag  Indians  were 
also  kindly  treated  by  the  white  settlers  and  frequently 
paid  them  friendly  visits,  as  did  the  Stockbridge  Indians14 
to  their  friends  after  withdrawing  from  their  old  village- 
home. 

The  Reverend  John  White  had  promised  Roger  Conant 
by  letter  that,  if  he  and  a  few  other  faithful  men  would 
hold  fast  and  not  desert  the  business  of  the  plantation,  a 
regular  patent  should  be  procured  and  "whatever  they 
should  write  for,  either  men,  or  provision,  or  goods  where- 
with to  trade  with  the  Indians"15  should  be  sent  over. 
Hubbard  says  Mr.  White  was  prompted  to  make  this  offer 
because  some  intimation  had  come  from  Roger  Conant 
that  the  region  of  Salem  "might  prove  a  receptacle  for  such 
as  upon  the  account  of  religion  would  be  willing  to  begin 
a  foreign  Plantation  in  this  part  of  the  world."16     This 

"The-Anglo  Indian  land  community  at  Montauk,  Easthampton,  Long  Island 
is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  case  that  has  survived  until  a  recent  date.  The 
subject  has  been  investigated  by  Mr.  J.  F.  Jameson,  a  Fellow  of  the  Johns  Hop- 
kins University. 

"The  history  of  the  Stockbridge  Indians  is  under  investigation  by  the  writer  in 
connection  with  the  Evolution  of  Village  Improvement  in  the  mission  town  of  Stock- 
bridge. 

16  Hubbard,  108.  A  fur-trade  with  the  natives  wa»  one  of  the  economic  foun- 
dations of  Massachusetts  as  well  as  of  Plymouth,  see  Hubbard,  110,  and  Higgin- 
son,  in  Young's  Chron.  of  Mass.  Roger  Conant  was  an  especially  enterprising 
fur-trader.  In  1631,  he  and  Peter  Palfrey,  and  others,  formed  a  Company  "for  traf- 
fic in  furs,  with  a  truck  house  at  the  eastward,*'  or  as  we  should  now  say,  "down 
in  Maine,"  see  Hist.  Coll.  Essex  Inst.,  i,  102. 

18  Ibid,  107. 


19 

may  have  been  Roger  Conant's  thought,  but  it  is  more 
likely  that  it  was  good  Mr.  Hubbard's  pious  reflection,  for, 
at  the  time  of  the  alleged  communication,  Roger  Conant 
was  a  Church  of  England  man  ;  Lyford,  the  minister  of 
Naumkeag,  was  warmly  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the 
established  church,  as  his  Plymouth  career  would  show; 
the  Reverend  John  White  himself  was  at  no  time  in  his 
life  more  than  a  very  moderate  Puritan,  for  he  is  said  to 
have  conformed  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  established 
Church  and  he  held  church  livings  in  England  until  the 
end  of  his  days.  Mr.  White  was  a  very  philanthropic, 
learned,  and  orthodox  divine.  He  was  one  of  the  As- 
sembly which  framed  the  Westminster  catechism  and 
was  highly  respected  by  the  Puritan  party,  but  he  was 
no  extremist  or  Puritan  propagandist.17  In  his  Planter's 
Plea,  he  tells  the  plain,  unvarnished  truth  about  the 
colonial  establishment  of  Massachusetts.  He  says  some 
of  the  adventurers  desired  to  continue  their  attempt 
at  a  plantation  ;  that  they  sent  over  more  cattle  to  en- 
courage the  old  planters  and  to  attract  others ;  they 
conferred  with  some  gentlemen  of  London  and  per- 
suaded them  to  take  stock  in  the  enterprise.  "The  bus- 
iness came  to  agitation  afresh."  Some  approved  it  and 
others  dissuaded.  The  matter  was  common  talk  in  Lon- 
don and  was  soon  noised  abroad.  Some  men  became  so 
much  interested  in  the  project  that  they  promised  "the  help 
of  their  purses  if  tit  men  might  be  procured  to  go  over." 
Upon  inquiry,  John  Endicott  and  other  good  men  were 
found,  who  were  willing  to  go  to  New  England  and  carry 
on  the  work  of  "erecting  a  new  Colony  upon  the  old  foun- 
dation." Money  was  subscribed  ;  a  patent  was  secured  ; 
and  Endicott,  with  a  few  men,  was  sent  over  to  Naum- 
keag, where  he  arrived  in   September,  1628,  "and  uniting 

17  Voting's  Cliron.  of  Mass.,  2C. 


20 

his  own  men  with  those  which  were  formerly  planted  in 
the  country  into  one  body,  they  made  up  in  all  not  much 
above  fifty  or  sixty  persons."  From  another  source  of  in- 
formation, it  appears  that,  later  in  the  year,  a  small  band 
of  servants  was  sent  over  by  the  Massachusetts  Company, 
which  was  now  forming. 

The  Planter's  Plea  gives  us  the  raison  d'etre  of  this 
enterprising  and  excellent  Company.  The  safe  arrival  of 
Endicott's  party  and  the  favorable  reports  he  sent  back  to 
England  encouraged  other  capitalists  to  join  the  enter- 
prise, and,  "all  engaging  themselves  more  deeply,"  the 
next  year  about  three  hundred  more  colonists,  "most  ser- 
vants," were  sent  over  with  some  horses  and  sixty  or  sev- 
enty "rother-beasts"18  (».  e.,  cows  and  oxen,  from  Saxon 
hrudher,  Old  German  hrind) .  The  widening  fame  of  En- 
dicott's good  government  and  of  the  success  of  the  col- 
ony "began  to  awaken  the  spirits  of  some  persons  of  com- 
petent estates,  not  formerly  engaged."  Being  "without 
any  useful  employment  at  home"  and  thinking  to  be  ser- 
viceable in  planting  a  colony  in  New  England,  such  men, 
of  whom  doubtless  John  Winthrop,  Matthew  Cradock,  Sir 
Richard  Saltonstall,  Isaac  Johnson,  and  Thomas  Dudley 
are  good  types,  joined  the  Massachusetts  Company,  prob- 
ably with  some  remote  intention  of  going  out  to  America,- 
just  as  Englishmen  now  go  out  to  India  or  Australia.  We 
may  add  in  passing  that  Matthew  Cradock,  the  first  gov- 
ernor of  the  Company  and  the  predecessor  of  Winthrop, 
never  came  to  America  at  all,  but  he  sent  out  many  ser- 
vants who  started  for  him  a  plantation  of  2500  acres 
on  the  Mystick  River  (Medford)  and  impaled  for  him  a 
deer-park :  he  had  his  own  business-agent  in  Massachu- 
setts and  invested  capital  in  ship-building,  in  the  fisher- 

18  In  the  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  3  and  4  Edw.  vi.,  we  have  found  "An  Act  for 
thebuyinge  of  Rother  Beasts  and  Cattell". 


21 

ies,  and  in  the  fur-trade.19  Mr.  White  says  that  other 
people,  "seeing  such  men  of  good  estates"  engaged  in  the 
enterprise,  some  out  of  attachment  to  these  parties  and 
"others  upon  other  respects"  (presumably  religious 
grounds),  united  with  them.  Thus  the  Company  was 
formed  and  a  competent  number  of  persons  were  secured 
to  embark  for  New  England. 

Ministers  were  provided  by  the  Company  as  a  matter 
of  course.  Even  the  Dorchester  merchants  hired  a  minis- 
ter. Messrs.  Bright  (who  was  devoted  to  the  established 
church),  Iligginson,  and  Skelton  (who  were  Puritans  still 
in  the  Church)  went  out  to  New  England,  not  :is  voluntary 
missionaries,  but  upon  very  good  contracts  for  those 
times,  before  men  were  passing  rich,  on  £  40  a  year. 
Iligginson  was  to  have  £30  for  his  outfit,  £10  for  books, 
free  transport  to  New  England,  a  house,  glebe-lands  and 
fire-wood,  the  milk  of  two  cows,  and  £30  a  year  for  three 
years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  "if  he  shall  not  like  to 
continue,"  he  was  to  have  free  passage  home.  Provision 
was  made  for  his  wife  and  children,  in  case  he  should  die. 
It  is  very  curious  to  note  in  the  records  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Company,  the  items  there  entered  for  the  outfit  of  the 
colony  :  Ministers,  men  skilful  in  making  pitch  and  salt, 
vine  planters,  w  patent  under  seal,  wheat,  rye,  barley, 
oats,  stones  of  all  sorts  of  fruit,  potatoes,  hop-roots,  hemp, 
ilax,  tame  turkeys,  linen  and  woollen  cloth,  pewter  bottles, 
pint  and   quart    measures,   brass   ladles,   spoons,  kettles, 

»  Young's  (Jliron.  of  Mass.,  137. 

30  Endicott  wanted  "Frenchmen  — experienced  in  planting  vines."  The  Com- 
pany, in  a  letter  to  the  Governor,  said  they  had  made  diligent  inquiry,  but  could 
not  get  hold  of  any  of  that  nation.  "Nevertheless",  they  say.  "God  hath  not  left 
us  altogether  unprovided  of  a  man  [Mr.  Graves]  able  to  undertake  that  work,"  i.  e. 
labor  in  the  vineyards  of  the  Mass.  Co.  Governor  Endicott  planted  a  vineyard 
of  his  own  in  Salem.  Governor  Winthrop  agreed  to  plant  a  vineyard  upon  so- 
called  Conant's  Island,  afterwards  the  Governor's  Garden  or  Governor's  Island, 
the  yearly  rent  of  which  was  to  he  a  hogshead  of  the  best  wyne  that  shall  grow 
there,"  payment  to  begin  after  the  death  of  the  Governor  I  (Mass.  Col.  Hcc,  i.'.tj, 
13H;  cf.    Young's  Chron.  of  Mass.,  152.) 


22 

arms  and  apparel  for  100  men,  45  tun  of  beer,  and  six 
tuns  of  water,  20  gallons  of  Spanish  wine,  20  gallons  of 
aqua  vitae  and  20  gallons  of  oil 21 — this  for  one  ship  with 
a  hundred  passengers ! 

When  Higginson  and  three  ship  loads  of  emigrants 
reached  Naumkeag  in  June,  1629,  there  were  found  living 
under  Endicott's  government  about  one  hundred  planters. 
"We  brought  with  us,"  says  Higginson,  who  does  not 
count  servants,22  "about  two  hundred  passengers  and  plant- 
ers more,  which,  by  common  consent  of  the  old  planters, 
were  all  combined  together  into  one  body  politic,  under  the 
same  Governor.  There  are  in  all  of  us,  both  old  and  new 
planters,  about  three  hundred,  whereof  two  hundred  of 
them  are  settled  at  Nehum-kek  now  called  Salem,  and 
the  rest  have  planted  themselves  at  Masathulets  Bay,  be- 
ginning to  build  a  town  there,  which  we  do  call  Cherton 
or  Charles  town.  We  that  are  settled  at  Salem  make 
what  haste  we  can  to  build  houses,  so  that  within  a  short 
time  we  shall  have  a  fair  town."23  This  account  was  writ- 
ten before  the  end  of  September,  1629,  so  that  it  appears 
the  town-life  of  the  Massachusetts  colony  was  already  be- 
ginning to  bud  and  blossom  in  the  wilderness. 

The  appearance  of  Salem  at  the  time  of  Higginson's 
arrival  is  pleasantly  described  by  that  entertaining  divine, 

"Mass.  Col.  Records,  i,23-7. 

"  Barry,  History  of  Mass.,  i,  165.  Barry  thinks  there  were  one  hundred  and 
eighty  servants  sent  over  to  Salem. 

«  "New  England's  Plantation,  Or  a  Short  and  Trve  Description  of  the  Com- 
modities and  Discommodities  of  that  Countrey,  Written  by  Mr.  Higgeson,  a  reu- 
erend  Diuine  there  resident.  Whereunto  is  added  a  Letter,  sent  by  Mr.  Graues, 
an  Enginere,  out  of  New-England.  The  third  Edition,  enlarged!"  (See  Young's 
Chron.  of  Mass.,  258-9).  The  publisher,  in  a  prefatory  note,  says  the  work  was 
"not  intended  for  the  press."  "It  was  written  by  a  reverend  divine  now  there  living, 
who  only  sent  it  to  some  friends  here  which  were  desirous  of  his  Relations." 
Possibly  the  letter  of  Mr.  Graves,  the  professional  engineer,  who  was  employed 
by  the  Company,  was  also  not  intended  for  publicatipn,  but  his  brief  report  and 
Higginson's  long  and  highly  interesting  account  of  the  plantation  quickly  found 
their  way  into  print.  Higginson's  glowing  sketch  wept  through  three  editions 
in  a  single  year,  showing  a  marked  public  iutares);  iu  the  fortunes  of  the  Massachu- 
setts colony. 


23 

who  though  perhaps  a  triilc  inclined  to  view  the  colonial 
fields  of  Massachusetts  through  benignant  glasses,  can  be 
safely  followed  in  local  matters  which  he  must  have  regarded 
with  tolerably  clear  vision.  "  When  we  came  first  to  Xe- 
hum-kek,"  he  says  very  simply,  "we  found  about  half  a 
score  houses,  and  a  fair  house  newly  built  for  the  Governor." 
The  Governor  had  a  garden  with  lot  of  green  pease  grow- 
ing in  it,  as  good  as  were  ever  seen  in  England.  There 
were  also  in  the  plantation  plenty  of  turnips,  parsnips, 
carrots,  pumpkins,  and  cucumbers.  The  Governor  had 
planted  a  vineyard  with  great  hope  of  increase.  An 
abundance  of  corn  was  growing.  The  planters  hoped 
that  year  to  harvest  more  than  a  hundred  fold.  Higginson 
says  it  is  almost  incredible  what  great  crops  of  Indian 
corn  the  planters  have  raised.  One  man  told  him  that 
from  the  setting  of  thirteen  gallons  of  corn  he  had  had  an 
increase  of  fifty-two  hogsheads,  every  hogshead  holding 
seven  bushels,  London  measure,  and  every  bushel  had 
been  sold  to  the  Indians  for  an  amount  of  beaver  skins 
equivalent  to  eighteen  shillings.  Thus,  from  thirteen 
gallons  of  corn,  worth  six  shillings,  eight  pence,  reckons 
the  good  minister,  a  single  farmer  made  in  one  year  about 
£327,  or  over  $1,500.  We  must  make  allowance  for 
good-natured  ministerial  arithmetic  and  for  the  use  of  a 
very  large  sized  fish  as  fertilizer  in  every  hill  of  the  old 
planters'  corn,  but  we  may,  with  probable  truth,  picture 
to  ourselves  a  tolerably  flourishing  plantation  made  up  of 
individual  gardens  and  home-lots.  We  know  that  the 
old  planters  took  up  lands  for  themselves  from  the  fact 
that  Governor  Endicott  was  instructed  by  the  Massachu- 
setts Company  in  the  spring  of  1(529,  to  allow  the  first 
comers  to  keep  "those  lands  wch  formerly  they  have 
manured  j"24  and  the  above  account  of  the  success  of  one 
planter  would  indicate  that  at  least  the  arable  lands  were 

"Muss.  Col.  Uec,  i,3^. 


24 

occupied  in  severalty.  Higginson  gives  us  to  understand 
that  even  servants  were  to  enjoy  each  the  use  of  fifty 
acres.  Some  intimation,  thereupon,  of  the  plan  proposed 
by  the  Massachusetts  Company,  May  19,  1629  (whereby 
each  adventurer  in  the  common  stock  was  to  have  fifty 
acres  for  every  member  of  his  family  and  for  every  servant 
transported)25  appears  already  to  have  reached  the  planta- 
tion. There  was  land  enough  for  all.  "Great  pity  it  is," 
says  Higginson,  "to  see  so  much  good  ground  for  corn 
and  for  grass  as  any  is  under  the  heavens,  to  lie  alto- 
gether unoccupied,  when  so  many  honest  men  and  their 
families  in  Old  England,  through  the  populousness  there- 
of, do  make  very  hard  shift  to  live  one  by  the  other." 
The  Indians  do  not  object  to  the  coming  and  planting  of 
the  English  here,  because  there  is  an  abundance  of 
ground  which  the  Indians  can  neither  use  nor  possess. 
This  land,  he  asserts,  is  fitted  "for  pasture  or  for  plough 
or  meadow  ground."  As  for  wood,  a  poor  servant  may 
have  more  timber  and  fuel  than  could  many  a  nobleman 
in  England.  Nay,  all  Europe  could  not  afford  to  make 
so  great  fires  as  New  England.  And  as  for  fresh  water, 
he  continues,  the  country  is  full  of  dainty  springs,  and 
some  great  rivers,  and  some  lesser  brooks.  Near  Salem 
we  have  as  fine  clear  water  as  we  could  desire,  and  we 
can  dig  wells  and  find  water  wherever  we  please.26 

Higginson's  account  of  the  attractions  of  Salem  is  to 
some  extent  confirmed  by  William  Wood,  who  came 
over  to  this  country  with  Higginson,  for  a  tour  of  obser- 
vation, and  wrote  a  very  good  description  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts towns  that  were  planted  before  his  return  to 
England  in  August,  1633.  Wood's  account  of  Salem  is 
not  quite  so  flattering  to  local  pride,  but  it  enables  the 
reader   to  obtain  a  very  matter-of-fact  picture,  entirely 

" Ibid,  43. 

»«  Higginson,  New  England's  Plantation  (In  Young's  Chron.  of  Mass.,  242-64). 


25 

free  from  any  suspicion  of  couleur  de  rose.  "  Four  miles 
north-east  from  Saugus,"  says  Wood,  "lieth  Salem,  which 
stands  on  the  middle  of  a  neck  of  land  very  pleasantly, 
having  a  South  river  on  the  one  side,  and  a  North  river 
on  the  other  side.  Upon  this  neck,  where  the  most  of 
the  houses  stand,  is  very  bad  and  sandy  ground.  Yet, 
for  seven  years  together,  it  hath  brought  forth  exceeding 
good  corn,  by  being  fished  but  every  third  year.  In 
some  places  is  very  good  ground,  and  very  good  timber, 
and  divers  springs  hard  by  the  sea-side.  Here,  likewise, 
is  store  of  fish,  as  basses,  eels,  lobsters,  clams,  &c. 
Although  their  land  be  none  of  the  best,  yet  beyond  those 
rivers  is  a  very  good  soil,  where  they  have  taken  farms, 
and  get  their  hay,  and  plant  their  corn.  There  they 
cross  these  rivers  with  small  canoes,  which  are  made  of 
whole  pine  trees,  being  about  two  foot  and  a  half  over, 
and  twenty  foot  long.  In  these  likewise  they  go  a  fowl- 
ing, sometimes  two  leagues  to  sea.  There  be  more  ca- 
noes27 in  this  town,  than  in  all  the  whole  Patent ;  every 
household  having  a  water-horse  or  two.  The  town  wants 
an  alewife  river,  which  is  a  great  inconvenience.  It  hath 
two  good  harbours,  the  one  being  called  Winter,  and  the 
other  Summer  harbour,  which  lieth  within  Derby's  fort; 
which  place,  if  it  were  well  fortified,  might  keep  ships 
from  landing  of  forces  in  any  of  these  two  places."28 

In  this  sketch  of  primitive  Salem  we  see  foreshadowed 
a  rising  city  by  the  sea.  These  rude  gondolas  plying 
across  the  rivers  and  up  and  down  the  harbor  represent 
for  a  simple  agrarian  folk  that  same  in-dwelling  maritime 
spirit  which  gradually  transformed  the  rude  fisherman  of 
the  Adriatic  lagoons  into  merchant  princes,  trading  with 
the  Kasfcrn  Umpire  as  the  merchants  of  Salem  were  des- 
tined to  trade  with  the   farthest  Orient.       The    beginning 

37  In  1G3G,  UogerConniit  w.ic  on  the  committee  lor  inspecting  the  rnnoesof  Salem. 
'-"•William  Wood.  New  England's  Prospect,  in  Young's  t'hron.  of  Mas*.,  4WM0. 


26 

of  Salem's  foreign  trade  was  precisely  like  that  of  Venice, 

namely,  furnishing  salt  fish  to  Catholic  countries,  a  trade 

which  developed  into  the  import  of  silks  and  spices  of 

the  Orieut.      In  a  recent   poem  by  a  son  of  Salem,  who 

looks  back  upon  the  first  settlement  of  this  place  through 

the  field-glass  of  History,  the  bard  exclaims 

Yonder  we  see  from  the  North  Kiver  shore 
The  farmers  of  the  region  paddling  o'er !  *9 

And   the    poet-sculptor   Story,    living  under    dreamy 

Italian  skies,  has  suug  of  Salem  his  native  town. 

Ah  me,  how  many  an  autumn  day 

We  watched  with  palpitating  breast 

Some  stately  ship,  from  India  or  Cathay, 
Laden  with  spicy  odours  from  the  East, 
Come  sailing  up  the  bay  !30 

»»  From  a  poem  by  the  Rev.  Charles  T.  Brooks,  at  the  Celebration  of  the  Two 
Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Landing  of  Endicott,  Historical  Collec- 
tions of  the  Essex  Institute,  xv,212. 

80  From  an  ode  by  William  W.  Story,  on  the  above  occasion,  ibid,  236. 
The  Visitor's  Guide  to  Salem  (H.  P.  Ives,  1880)  says,  page  6,  "Salem  has  had  a 
most  remarkable  commercial  record.  In  1825  there  were  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight  vessels  owned  in  Salem.  In  1833  there  were  one  hundred  and  eleven  engaged 
in  foreign  trade.  Salem  'led  the  way  from  New  England  round  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  to  the  Isle  of  France,  and  India  and  China.  Her  vessels  were  the  first  from 
this  country  to  display  the  American  Hag  and  open  trade  with  St.  Petersburg,  and 
Zanzibar,  and  Sumatra;  with  Calcutta  and  Bombay;  with  Batavia  and  Arabia; 
with  Madagascar  and  Australia.'" 

The  Rev.  Charles  T.  Brooks  has  put  into  verse  a  story  familiar  to  Salem  people 
of  the  grandeur  of  this  city  as  viewed  in  the  imagination  of  the  Orient. 

Some  native  merchant  of  the  East,  they  say, 

(Whether  Canton,  Calcutta  or  Bombay), 

Had  in  his  counting-room  a  map,  whereon 

Across  the  field  in  capitals  was  drawn 

The  name  of  Salem,  meant  to  represent 

That  Salem  was  the  Western  Continent, 

While  in  an  upper  corner  was  put  down 

A  dot  named  Boston,  SALEM'S  leading  town.  Ibid,  213. 
On  the  subject  of  Salem's  oriental  trade,  see  article  by  Robert  S.  Rantoul,  on 
"Old  Channels  of  Trade,"  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Essex  Inst.,  ii,  145-154;  and  "The 
port  of  Salem,"  by  the  same  writer,  Hist.  Coll.  Essex  Inst.,  x,  pp.  52-72,  and  G.  F. 
Cheever's  "Remarks  on  the  Commerce  of  Salem,  1626-1740,"  in  the  Hist.  Coll.  of 
Essex  Inst.,  i,  67,  77,  117;  also,  see  "Life  of  Elias  Hasket  Derby,"  Freeman  Hunt's 
"Lives  of  American  merchants,  New  York,  1858"  vol.  ii,  pp.  17-100,  and  "Historical 
Sketch  of  Salem,"  by  Osgood  and  Batchelder,  Institute  Press,  1879,  chap,  viii,  p. 
126-227,  and  a  Letter  of  Robert  S.  Rantonl  to  the  National  Board  of  Health,  Salem, 
March,  1882,  on  the  "Early  Quarantine  Arrangements  of  Salem,"  Essex  Inst.  Bul- 
letin, vol.  xiv,  pp.  1-56. 


ALLOTMENTS  OF    LAND    IN  SALEM  TO   MEN, 
WOMEN,   AND   MAIDS. 


By  Herbert  B.  Adams. 


The  situation  of  the  original  houselots  of  the  Old  Plant- 
ers of  Salem  has  been  the  subject  of  careful  investigation 
and  some  friendly  controversy  among  local  antiquaries 
and  historians.  It  is  interesting  to  trace  the  development 
of  correct  views  from  earlier  but  erroneous  opinions. 
The  Reverend  William  Bentley,  in  his  Description  and 
History  of  Salem,  published  by  the  Massachusetts  Histor- 
ical Society  in  LXOO,  says,  "when  Francis  Higginson  ar- 
rived in  1(>2!>,  there  were  only  six  houses,  besides  that  of 
Governor  Endicott,  and  these  were  not  on  the  land  now 
called  Salem"1  What  authority  Mr.  Bentley  had  for  this 
latter  statement  does  not  appear  in  his  monograph.  Prob- 
ably he  had  in  mind  some  local  tradition  connected  with  the 
locality  of  the  Old  Planters'  Common  Meadow,  which  of 
course  lay  without  the  village.  Following  upon  Mr.  Bent- 
ley's  track,  in  1<X3">,  came  Robert  Rantoul,  si-.,  with  his 
Memoranda  of  Beverly,  published  by  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  wherein  he  states  very  positively,  "Ro- 
ger Consult,  John  Woodberry  and  Peter  Paltry  first  settled 
in  1B2G,  on  the  neck  of  land  between  Collin's  Cove  on 
the  south,  and  the  North  river  on  the  north,  in  Salem. 
Bridge  Street,  leading  from  the  compact  part  of  Salem  to 
Essex  (Beverly)  Bridge,  runs  over  this  neck  of  land. 
Their  first  houses  were  near  to  the  margin  of  the  river,  and 
their  lots  running  from  the  river  across  the  neck  to  Col- 
lin's Cove."  -     This  firmly  planted  opinion  seems  to  have 


1  Collections  of  tlao  Ma.-s.  Hist.  Soc  1st  Scries,  vi,  231. 

»  I  in, i,  3d  scries,  vii,  254.    Also  Hist.  Coll.  Essex  Inst.,  xviii,  307-8. 

:$  i  27 1 


28 

held  its  ground  in  Salem  until  a  very  recent  date.  Even 
Mr.  Phippen,  in  his  admirable  sketch  of  the  Old  Planters, 
accepted  the  traditional  notion,  with  certain  modifications, 
suggestive  of  the  real  truth.  He  says,  "The  Old  Planters 
appear  to  have  occupied  the  larger  part  of  the  peninsula 
lying  between  the  North  River  and  Collin's  Cove;  and 
they  may  not  have  been  strangers  to  that  larger  peninsula 
beyond,  which  aftenvards  became  the  centre  of  the  town."z 
In  1859  came  the  full  development  and  substantiation 
of  this  latter  view  by  Mr.  William  P.  Upham,  who  made 
a  most  thorough  examination  of  old  deeds  and  land  titles 
and  established  the  position,  now  cordially  accepted  by 
Mr.  Phippen,4  that  "the  old  Planters  occupied  that  portion 
of  our  territory  which  has  ever  remained  the  nucleus  and 
central  body  of  the  town."5  Mr.  Upham,  in  a  series  of 
articles  on  the  First  Houses  in  Salem,  published  in  the 
Bulletin  of  the  Essex  Institute,  gives  most  conclusive 
proof6  of  this  assertion.  His  results  maybe  summed  up 
in  the  following  statement:  "The  manner  in  which  the 
house  lots  in  the  central  part  of  the  town  were*  originally 
laid  out,  seems  to  indicate  that  the  earliest  settlement  was 
made  in  the  vicinity  of  Elm  street  and  Washington  street 
upon  the  South  river.  Between  these  streets  the  lots 
were  small,  irregular,  and  not  in  conformity  with  the  plan 
upon  which  the  rest  of  the  town  was  laid  out.  East  of 
there,  all  along  the  South  river  to  the  Neck,  house-lots 
were  laid  out  running  back  from  the  river ;  and  along  the 
North  river,  west  of  North  street  were  larger  house-lots, 
also  running  back  from  that  river.  Essex  street  was  pro- 
bably a  way  that  came  gradually  into  use  along  the  ends 
of  these  lots  ;  and  as  they  were  all  of  the  same  depth  from 


3  Hist.  Coll.  of  the  Essex  Institute,  i,  103. 

4  Bulletin  of  the  Essex  Institute,  i,  51.  6  Ibid,  i,  51. 

•  See  especially  ii,  33-36,  49-52.     These  articles  extend  through  two  volumes  of 
the  Bulletin,  i,  37,53,  73,  129  and  145,  et  seq.  ii,  35,  49. 


29 

the  river  this  street  acquired,  and  has  retained  the  same 
curves  that  the  rivers  originally  had."7  Mr.  Uphara  is  in- 
clined to  believe  that  the  Old  Planters  did  not  all  live 
closely  together,  but  were  somewhat  scattered,  each  man 
having  his  separate  house-lot  and  lands.  Mr.  Upham  has 
completely  overthrown  the  ancient  tradition  that  the  Old 
Planters  "settled  upon  the  comparatively  small  peninsula 
lying  between  Naumkeag,  now  North  River,  and  Shallop 
or  Collin's  Cove,"  where  Mr.  Phippen  supposed  "Conant 
and  some  of  his  followers  built  their  first  small  and  unsub- 
stantial cottages."8  This  latter  view  probably  arose  from 
the  popular  misconception  that  the  Old  Planters'  houses 
must  necessarily  have  been  upon  their  Common  Meadow. 
Mr.  Upham  thinks  the  land  in  that  vicinity  was  not  occu- 
pied for  building  purposes  until  nearly  ten  years  after  the 
original  settlement  of  Naumkeag,  that  is,  until  after  Bev- 
erly and  Ipswich  were  planted. 

The  historical  reconstruction  of  the  ground  plan  of 
New  England  Village  Communities  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant subjects  which  can  occupy  the  local  antiquary. 
The  situation  of  the  original  houselots,  the  first  laving  out 

o  Jo 

of  streets  and  lanes,  the  names  of  village  localities,  the 
transfers  of  real  estate,  the  perpetuation  of  ancient  land- 
marks which  our  fathers  have  set,  the  first  site  of  churches 
and  burying  grounds,  the  lines  of  old  forts  and  of  village 
stockades  (from  which  historical  idea  of  a  place  hedged-in, 
the  Town  itself — from  Tun,  Zun,  Zaun  or  hedge  —  aetu- 


1  Ibid,  ii,.r>2. 

"Hist.  Coll.  of  the  Essex  Inst.,  i,  107.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  frame- 
work of  the  "fair  house  newly  built  for  the  Governor"  is  .still  standing  in  Salem, 
north  corner  of  Washington  ami  Church  streets,  but  it  is  still  more  interesting 
that  this  structure,  though  not  the  first  in  Salem,  was  the  original  "great  Frame 
House  "  orectetl  In  11 VU  at  Cape  Ann  by  the  Old  Planters,  but  pulled  down,  brought 
to  Salem,  and  reconstructed  ••  for  Mr.  Endecotl's  u-c"  pee  ('.  M.  Kndicott  in  Hist. 
Coll.  Essex  ln-t..  ii,:ii>;  cf.  i,  KYI,  1*>U.  This  is  probably  the  oldest  material  struc- 
ture in  New  England,  and  it  is  for  Salem  what  '-the  Common  House,"  if  yet  stand- 
'ng,  would  be  for  Plymouth. 


30 

ally  sprang), — these  things  are  all  important  in  the  study 
of  town  origins.  They  are  the  material  foundations  upon 
which  the  town  rests  as  an  abiding  institution.  Genera- 
tions of  men  pass  away,  but  old  landmarks  remain.  It 
is  worth  while  to  clear  away  the  accumulated  rubbish  of 
years  and  to  discover  the  sub-structure  of  every  New 
England  village,  just  as  modern  antiquaries  have  un- 
earthed the  oldest  walls  of  Rome.  From  an  original  di- 
agram, preserved  in  the  colonial  records  of  Plymouth, 
we  are  able  to  determine  with  positive  certainty  the  di- 
rection of  the  first  street  and  the  exact  situation  of  the 
first  house-lots  in  the  oldest  village  of  New  England. 
Mr.  William  T.  Davis,  a  noted  antiquary  of  Plymouth, 
has  during  the  past  few  years  been  examining  old  deeds 
and  local  records  with  a  view  to  writing  the  history  of 
the  real  estate  of  that  ancient  town.  He  published  some 
of  his  materials  in  the  Plymouth  Free  Press,  under  the  title 
of  "Ancient  Landmarks."9  The  city  of  Boston  has  pub- 
lished a  similar  series  of  monumental  studies  called  the 
Gleaner  Articles,  first  contributed  more  than  twenty-five 
years  ago  to  the  Boston  Daily  Transcript  by  a  learned 
conveyancer,  Nathaniel  Bowditch.10  The  studies  of  Mr. 
Phippen  and  Mr.  Upham  stand  in  the  same  fundamental 
relation  to  the  beginnings  of  Salem  and  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Colony  as  do  the  studies  of  Mr.  Davis  and  Mr. 
Bowditch  to  the  beginnings  of  Plymouth  and  Boston. 
Such  good  works  ought  to  grow  from  more  to  more. 
The  territorial  history  of  every  town  should  be  not 
merely  written,  but  pictorially  described  by  means  of 
maps,  showing  early  topography  and  ancient  landmarks. 

» In  a  circular  issued  Feb.  15, 1882,  Mr.  Davis  proposes  to  publish  his  researches 
in  an  octavo  volume  of  600  pages,  entitled  "Ancient  Landmarks  of  Plymouth." 

10 Fifth  Report  of  the  Record  Commissioners.  Materials  for  the  continuation  of 
such  studies  are  now  easily  accessible  in  the  volume  of  Suffolk  deeds,  transcribed 
by  that  eminent  antiquary,  William  B.  Trask,  a  descendant  of  Capt.  Wm.  Trask,  one 
of  the  old  Planters  of  Salem. 


31 

The  house-lots  of  ancient  Salem,  as  in  all  village  commu- 
nities, were  quite  small,  considering  the  amount  of  avail- 
able land  in  the  plantation.  In  1637,  nearly  two  years 
after  Mr.  Conant  had  received  his  grant  of  two  hundred 
acres  in  Beverly,  it  was  ordered  by  the  town  of  Salem, 
that  Mr.  Conant's  house,  with  half11  an  acre  of  ground  and 
the  corn  standing  upon  the  same,  should  be  bought  at  the 
town's  expense  for  the  use  of  old  Mr.  Plase  and  wife,  who 
should  occupy  the  premises  for  the  rest  of  their  lives. 
The  place  was  then  to  revert  to  the  town,  which  agreed 
to  settle  with  the  executors  or  assigns  of  Mr.  Plase  for 
whatever  improvements  he  had  made  upon  the  ground. 
Now  if  Mr.  Conant,  the  leading  man  of  old  Naumkeag, 
had  only  half  an  acre  for  his  home-lot,  it  is  fair  to  presume 
that  his  associates  possessed  at  most  only  half  acre  home- 
steads. The  idea  of  a  home-lot  was  a  plot  of  ground  suf- 
ficient for  a  dwelling-house  and  out-buildings,  for  a  door- 
yard  and  garden,  with  perhaps  a  small  inclosure  for  feeding 
cattle  or  raising  corn.  When  Higginson  arrived  in  Salem, 
he  noticed  at  once  the  Governor's  garden,  with  its  growing 
pease,  and  other  gardens  full  of  vegetables.  This  type 
of  a  house- or  home-lot  is  familiar  enough  to  New  Eng- 
land  people.  We  see  it  everywhere  in  our  country  towns 
and  villages,  where  the  houses  are  built  together  with  any 
considerable  degree  of  compactness.  Tacitus  might  say  of 
the  early  settlers  of  New  England  as  he  said  of  the  ancient 
Germans,  "  Vicos  locant  non  in  nostrum  morem  conexis  et 
cohaerentibus  cvdijiciis:  suam  quisque  domum  spatio  cir- 
cumdat.12  At  no  time  in  the  early  history  of  Salem  were 
town-lots  large.  They  were  usually  about  an  acre  in  ex- 
tent. In  the  so-called  Book  of  Grants,  which  are  the 
oldest  records  of  this  town,  we  read  in  one  place  of  two 
acre  house-lots,  but  a  page  or  two  later,  it  appears  that 


11  Town  Records  of  Salem,  i,  M.  Cf.  121.         »  Tacitus  Ucruiauiu,  cap.  10, 


32 

"the  two  acre  lots  were  limited  to  one  acre.13  Even 
smaller  house-lots  than  a  half  acre  were  sometimes  granted  ; 
for  example,  "Augustin  Kellham  is  admitted  for  inhabi- 
tant &  is  to  haue  a  quarter  of  an  acre  before  Esties  house."14 
Half  acre  lots  were  very  frequently  granted  to  fishermen  at 
Winter  Harbor  and  to  poor  people  upon  the  Town  Neck. 
Many  of  these  small  grants  were  to  be  held  only  during  the 
town's  pleasure,  and  were  therefore,  strictly  of  the  nature 
of  "cottage  rights"  upon  the  wasteland  of  an  English  manor. 
So-called  cottage  rights,  as  we  shall  further  see,  became 
an  important  criterion  in  Salem15  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  for  the  division  of  common  land.  The 
inhabitants  of  Marblehead,  which  formerly  belonged  to 
Salem  territory,  were  granted  house-lots  and  nothing  more, 
it  being  ordered  by  the  town  of  Salem  that  "  none  inhab- 
iting at  Marble  Head  shall  haue  any  other  accommodation 
of  land,  other  than  such  as  is  vsually  giuen  by  the  Towne 
to  fishermen  viz.  a  howse  lott  &  a  garden  lott  or  ground 
for  the  placing  of  their  flakes  ;  according  to  the  company 
belonging  to  their  families,  to  the  greatest  family  not  aboue 
2  acres  :  &  the  common  of  the  woods  neere  adioyning  for 
their  goates  &  their  cattle."16  Cottage  rights  appear  to 
have  been  granted  to  the  men  engaged  in  the  Glass  Works, 
with  common  in  the  Glass  House  Fields.17 

But  other  lands  than  house-lots  were  speedily  occupied 
in  the  settlement  of  the  town  of  Salem.  Indeed,  it  is 
very  certain  that  the  Old  Planters  owned  more  land  than 
their  homesteads.  Governor  Endicott,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  instructed  by  the  Massachusetts  Company  to  confirm 
Mr.  Conant  and  his  men  in  the  possession  of  lands  which 
they  had  already  improved  and  to  grant  them  such  other 

"Town  Records  of  Salem,  i  9,  11.     «  Ibid,  53. 

"Ibid,  17,  33,  53,  62,  63.  Cf.  Report  of  the  City  Solicitor  on  the  Sale  of  the  Neck 
Lands,  11. 

"Town  Records  of  Salem,  i,  27-2S.  The  town  of  Gloucester  is  built  upon  the 
"fisherman's  field."  See  Thorntons  Lauding  at  Cape  Ann,  83-4.      1T  Ibid,  94,  225. 


33 

lands  as  might  seem  fitting.18  And  yet  we  are  inclined  to 
think  that  the  Old  Planters'  farms  were  very  limited  in 
extent  until  after  the  grants  in  Beverly,  of  which  we 
shall  elsewhere  speak.  In  spite  of  the  large  stories  told  to 
good  Mr.  Higginson  about  the  enormous  crops  raised  by 
the  Old  Planters,  we  believe  that  their  corn  fields  were 
not  very  different  from  the  type  represented  by  Roger  Co- 
nant's  half  acre  in  1037.  Probably  the  enterprising  Mr. 
Conant  had  as  much  land  as  any  of  his  associates,  yet  all 
that  he  possessed  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town,  in  1637, 
was  something  less  than  forty- four  acres,  of  which  pre- 
sumably a  very  small  proportion  was  actually  under  culti- 
vation. At  Plymouth  an  acre  of  planting  ground  sufficed 
for  an  individual  from  1623,  when  the  first  distribution  of 
arable  land  occurred,  down  to  1627,  when  the  partnership 
with  the  London  merchants  was  dissolved  and  twenty 
more  acres  were  allotted  to  each  person.  The  normal 
amount  of  planting  ground  allowed  to  an  individual  du- 
ring the  early  years  of  Salem  history  was  ten  acres.  Al- 
most the  first  entry  in  the  Book  of  Grants  is  in  regard  to 
the  division  of  ten  acre  lots.  It  was  ordered  that  the 
least  family  should  have  ten  acres,  but  greater  families 
should  have  more,  according  to  the  number  of  persons  in 
the  household.19  A  "10  acre  lott  and  a  howse  lott"20  were 
regarded  as  a  proper  allowance  for  the  head  of  a  family. 
Mr.  Plase,  the  blacksmith,  who  was  established  in  Mr. 
Conant's  old  house,  with  a  shop  and  forge  at  town  ex- 
pense, petitioned  for  a  "tenne  acre  lott"21  and  obtained  it. 
Lieutenant  Davenport  likewise  received  a  ten  acre  lot.23 
Ten  acres  were  enough  for  good  fanning  in  those  days  as 
now.  To  be  sure,  many  attempts  were  made  to  inclose 
more,  but  the  town  authorities  resolutely  punished  :ill  such 
incroaehments.       John  Pickering,  Edmund  Giles,  Abra- 

'-  M;i-s.  Col.  lice.  i.  SW.      "Salem  Town  Records  of  Salom.  8.      -"  Ibid,  II. 
-'  Mil.  BO,  1*21.       »  I  bill.  27. 


34 

ham  Warren,  Major  Hathorne,  and  many  others  were 
fined  for  "taking  in  of  towne  common"23  or  incroaching 
upon  the  highways.  Offenders  were  obliged  to  tear  down 
their  fences  and  open  again  to  commons  the  land  which 
they  had  inclosed.  John  Gatshell  was  fined  ten  shillings 
for  building  upon  town  land  without  leave,  but  the  fine 
was  abated  to  five  shillings  on  condition  that  he  should 
cut  his  long  hair  !24 

It  is  very  pleasant  to  find  that  women,  who  were  heads 
of  families,  received  in  early  Salem  their  proportion  of 
planting  land.25  Wallace,  in  his  interesting  work  on  Rus- 
sia, has  shown  how  in  the  town  meeting  or  village  Mir 
of  that  country,  the  women  have  their  voice  in  the  matter 
of  distributing  communal  land,  and  a  very  high-keyed 
voice  it  is  said  to  be.  In  Russia  the  women  have  not  such 
a  delicate  consideration  for  the  feelings  of  the  other  sex, 
as  used  to  be  shown  by  Mary  Starbuck  in  the  Island  of 
Nantucket,  who  often  addressed  town  meetings  in  her 
husband's  name  (for  he  was  a  bashful  man),  and  always 
prefaced  her  remarks  by  these  gracious  and  winning  words  : 
"Mr.  Moderator  and  Fellow  townsmen  1  My  husband 
thinks",  — so  and  so.  To  be  sure,  Russian  widows  have 
no  husbands,  but  a  tender  allusion  to  the  dear  departed 
would  certainly  be  more  likely  to  influence  a  jury  of  fel- 
low townsmen  than  angry  vituperation.  It  is,  however, 
very  curious  that  in  Russia  the  object  of  feminine  anxiety 
is  to  have  as  small  an  amount  of  land  as  possible,  for  land 
signifies  taxes.  Land  is  actually  imposed  upon  Russian 
widows  if  they  have  sons  old  enough  to  engage  in  farming. 
In  Salem  and  Plymouth  and  the  towns  along  Cape  Cod, 
women  could  not  get  enough  land.  Still,  in  Salem,  Tom 
More's  widow  drew  her  ten  acres.  Mistress  Felton, 
"vidua,"  and  her  son  Nathaniel  received  twenty  acres.     A 

"  Ibid,  46, 101,  105, 164, 190,  216.    *«  Ibid,  55.  »  Town  Records  of  Salem,  i,  21-27. 


35 

very  large  grant  of  one  hundred  and  tifty  acres  was  prom- 
ised Mrs.  Higginson,  if  she  should  come,  but  this  liberality 
was  because  of  a  special  contract  made  with  her  late  hus- 
band by  the  Massachusetts  Company.  Widow  Mason 
received  twenty  acres  and  Widow  Scarlet,  thirty.  Evi- 
dently, the  amount  of  land  in  both  cases  was  determined 
by  the  size  of  the  family. 

It  is,  on  the  whole,  rather  disappointing  to  find  that 
maidens  or  spinsters  did  not  fare  quite  so  well  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  land  as  the  numerical  claims  of  that  class  in 
society  would  seem  to  justify.  The  town  fathers  of  Salem 
began  well  by  granting  so-called  "maids  lotts,"  but  very 
soon  this  course  began  to  be  looked  upon  as  highly  indis- 
creet, for,  in  the  records,  we  find  a  note  in  Governor  En- 
dicott's  own  handwriting,  to  the  effect,  that,  in  future,  the 
town  desired  to  avoid  "all  presedents  &,  evil  events  of 
graunting  lotts  vnto  single  maidens  not  disposed  of!" 
Hereafter,  "it  is  ordered  that  noe  single  maiden  not 
disposed  of  in  marriage,"  —  and  then  follows  in  the  rec- 
ord a  painful  blank.  At  this  point  in  his  writing  the  Gov- 
ernor evidently  came  to  a  realizing  sense  of  the  odious  Act 
he  was  about  to  inscribe  in  the  local  statutes,  and  he  at 
once  ran  his  pen  through  the  entire  passage.  But  he  did 
not  improve  very  much  upon  the  phraseology  of  the  law 
against  single  maidens  by  resorting  to  this  expression, 
"for  the  avoiding  of  absurdities  !"  M  The  Governor  at- 
tempted to  refine  his  language,  but  he  persisted  in  his 
cruel  purpose.  Deborah  Holmes  was  refused  land  "being 
a  maid,"  but  the  Governor  endeavored  to  be  kind,  for  he 
gave  her  a  bushel  of  Indian  corn  !  This  maiden  was  evi- 
dently of  mature  years  and  well  content  to  take  care  of 
herself,  but  the  Governor  and  the  Selectmen  assured  her 
that  it  "would  be  a  bad  president  to  keep  hous  alone." 


"Town  Kecorils  of  Salem,  i,  2$,  JJ 


[From  Historical  Collections  of  the  Essex  Institute,  Vol.  XIX, 

pp.  241--25.-5.] 


COMMON    FIELDS 


IN 


SALEM 


IJY    HERBERT   B.    ADAMS. 


The  reproduction  of  the  old  English  system  of  Com- 
mon Fields,  or  associate  ownership  of  land  for  tillage  and 
pasture,  is  a  curious  chapter  in  the  agrarian  history  of  early 
New  England  towns.  Nearly  all  of  them  had  the  system 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  The  writer  has  discovered 
evidence  of  its  general  prevalence  throughout  the  Plan- 
tations of  Plymouth  Colony,  where  to  this  day  there  are 
many  remarkable  cases  of  survival,  especially  upon  Cape 
Cod.  P>ut  evidence  is  not  lacking  of  the  long  continuance 
of  this  ancient  system  upon  a  large  scale  in  Salem,  the 
oldest  of  towns  in  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  In 
the  year  1640,  there  were  in  Salem  no  less  than  ten  Com- 
mon Fields  of  associated  proprietors,  who  fenced  more 
or  less  in  common,  under  the  supervision  of  fence  viewers 
or  surveyors  of  fences,  who  were  appointed  in  Town 
Meeting.  There  was  a  special  committee  for  each  tield. 
In  the  course  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 

(37) 


38 

most  of  these  old  communal  proprietorships  were  broken 
up  into  individual  and  separate  holdings,  but  the  North 
Fields  and  the  South  Fields,  which  are  spoken  of  as  early 
as  1642-3,  continued  as  Common  Fields  down  to  about  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  are  still  frequently 
referred  to  by  citizens  of  Salem  who  are  conversant 
with  the  traditions  of  the  Fathers.  The  Rev.  Charles  T. 
Brooks,  in  his  poem  delivered  September  18,  1878,  at  the 
commemoration  of  the  fifth  half  century  of  the  landing  of 
Endicott,  refers  to  the  ancient  Common  Fields,  so  familiar 
to  the  early  settlers  : 

"  North  Fields  and  South  Fields  little  dreamed  that  day 
Of  horse-cars  running  on  an  iron  way." 

In  the  Rev.  William  Beutley's  "Description  of  Salem," * 
published  in  the  year  1800,  the  old  North  Fields  are  spo- 
ken of  as  "  the  lands  lying  north  of  North  river"  and  as 
containing  "four  hundred  and  ninety  acres."  He  speaks 
of  "an  hill  called  Paradise,  from  the  delightful  view  of 
the  western  part  of  the  town."  He  says  that  South  Fields 
"are  the  lands  included  between  Forest  and  South  rivers, 
and  are  divided  from  the  great  pasture  by  the  Forest-river 
road.  These  lands  are  in  good  cultivation.  Near  the 
town  are  some  settlements  ;  the  rest  remain  in  farms  and 

lots,  possessed  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town 

The  South  Fields  contain  six  hundred  acres."2  Certain 
parcels  of  ungranted  or  unoccupied  land  in  the  old  North 
Fields  remain  common  to  this  day,  for  example  the  tract 
of  four  or  five  acres  known  as  "Liberty  Hill,  "  now  used 
as  a  public  pleasure  ground.  A  few  years  ago  there  was 
considerable  discussion  in  Salem  as  to  the  ownership  of 
such  tracts.    It  was  the  opinion  of  a  prominent  legislator, 


Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Hist.  Soc.  1st  Series,  vi,  218. 
2  Ibid,  217. 


39 

Hon.  Charles  "W.  Uphara,  then  Mayor,  in  a  Report  on  the 
Common  Lands  of  the  City  of  Salem  in  1852, 3  that 
"  Liberty  Hill  or  any  other  unappropriated  lands,  if  any 
there  be  in  North  Fields,  belong  to  the  proprietors  of  that 
district  by  a  sort  of  special  commonage,  but  cannot  be 
disposed  of,  or  appropriated  by  them,  without  the  consent 
of  the  town  first  had  and  obtained.  This  seems  to  have 
been  the  principle  upon  which  the  North  Field  common 
lands  were  administered." 

This  opinion  is  sustained  by  the  fact  that  at  a  Salem 
town  meeting,  March  8,  1684,  it  was  voted  that  the  pro- 
prietors of  North  Fields,  or  the  major  part  of  them,  should 
have  liberty  to  make  such  orders,  from  time  to  time  as  they 
should  find  necessary  for  the  sufficient  fencing  and  well 
improving  of  the  said  fields,  and  all  such  orders  made  by 
them,  relating  to  the  premises,  being  presented  to  the 
Selectmen  and  approved  of  by  them  were  to  hold  good. 
But  the  Selectmen  had  the  right  of  veto,  showing  that  the 
authority  over  common  fields  which  were  owned  by  an 
individual  proprietary  was  still  vested  in  the  town. 

A  local  incident  in  American  Revolutionary  history, 
related  by  Mr.  Felt  in  his  Annals  of  Salem,  well  illustrates 
the  independent  spirit  which  characterized  the  ancient 
proprietors  of  North  Fields,  an  agrarian  commonwealth 
within  the  larger  self-governed  community  of  Salem. 
When  Colonel  Leslie,  commander  of  a  detachment  of 
British  forces,  was  directing  his  ma'rch  towards  the  "  hill 
called  Paradise  "  in  order  to  seize  the  artillery  which  had 
been  hidden  there,  he  found  the  road  through  North  Fields 
blocked  at  a  certain  bridge,  which  still  belonged  to  the 
old   proprietors,    although   the  Common    Field   had   been 


•Salem  City  Documents,  for  year  1852,  )>.:!0.  The  writer'-  attention  was  cnlleil  to 
tills  opinion  of  the  late  Hon.  Chuiles  W.Upham  byMr.  KobeitS.  Rautoul  of  Salem. 


40 

broken  up  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The 
Colonel  remonstrated  with  the  farmers  for  obstructing  the 
King's  highway.  "  This  is  not  the  King's  highway,"  said 
one  of  those  sturdy  yeomen.  "This  is  a  private  way  be- 
longing to  the  proprietors  of  North  Fields."  Graphic 
accounts  of  the  memorable  scene  at  North  Bridge  are  to 
be  found  in  the  printed  speeches  of  Henry  L.  Williams, 
George  B.  Loring,  and  Edmund  B.  Willson,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  Leslie's  expedition  to 
Salem,  which  invasion  of  local  rights  occurred  February 
26,  1775.  "This  deliberate,  open  resistance,"  said  Mayor 
Williams,  "by  our  townsmen  to  the  decrees  of  the  crown 
took  place  about  seven  weeks  before  the  resistance  at 
Lexington  and  Concord."  There  is  not  the  shadow  of  a 
doubt,  if  Colonel  Leslie,  the  officer  sent  from  Boston  by 
General  Gage  to  take  away  the  Salem  guns,  had  offered 
violence  to  the  North  Field  farmers,  that  the  American 
Revolution  would  have  flamed  out  then  and  there,  for  the 
yeomen  were  armed  for  battle  ;  the  local  militia  men  were 
prepared,  if  necessary,  to  defend  the  Bridge.  "You  had 
better  not  fire,"  said  John  Felt,  a  plain-spoken  townsman 
who  had  been  remonstrating  with  Leslie ;  "you  have  no 
right  to  fire  without  further  orders,  and  if  you  do  fire  you 
are  all  dead  men.  For  there,"  said  Felt,  pointing  to  the 
assembled  townsmen,  "  is  a  multitude,  every  man  of  whom 
is  ready  to  die  in  this  strife."  And  Leslie  did  not  fire. 
Another  leading  man  came  forward  and  expostulated  fur- 
ther with  Leslie.  "And  who  are  you,  sir?"  demanded  the 
British  Colonel.  The  man  replied,  "  I  am  Thomas  Barnard, 
a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  my  mission  is  peace." 
He  had  come  with  his  congregation  from  the  old  North 
Church,  when  the  alarm  arose  that  Sunday  morning,  "The 
regulars  are  coming !"  The  whole  town  poured  out,  and 
nothing  but  the  entreaties  of  the  minister  induced  them  to 


41 

lower  the  draw-bridge  and  allow  Leslie  to  march  over  a 
few  rods  on  condition  that  he  should  march  straight  back 
again  without  any  further  aggressions  on  proprietary  rights. 
This  withdrawal  without  seizing  the  guns  cost  Leslie  his 
commission,  but  it  prevented  Salem  Common  Fields  from 
becoming  the  first  battle  ground  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion.4 

One  summer,  a  few  years  ago,  in  the  Bodleian  Library 
of  the  Essex  Institute,  at  Salem,  through  the  kind  offices 
of  Dr.  Henry  Wheatland  and  Mr.  William  P.  Uphain, 
there  came  into  the  hands  of  the  writer  a  rare  old 
manuscript.  It  was  not  one  of  the  lost  books  of  Livy, 
neither  was  it  Cicero's  missing  treatise  De  Gloria,  which 
was  lost  by  Petrarch's  poverty-stricken  old  schoolmaster 
who  was  forced  to  pawn  it  for  bread.  The  Salem  manuscript 
was  no  scholar's  work.  No  monk  had  illuminated  its  pages  ; 
no  humanist  had  revised  its  text.  The  Salem  manuscript 
was  characterized  chiefly  by  bad  writing,  bad  spelling, 
and  by  its  general  resemblance  to  the  most  primitive  town 
records  in  New  England,  records  kept  oftentimes  upon  old 
account-books.  There  was  nothing  externally  attractive 
about  this  dingy  old  manuscript,  but  it  had  for  the  student 
of  New  England  local  history  more  interest  than  a  beautiful 
church  missal  or  a  classic  palimpsest  would  have  afforded, 
if  found  in  that  library  of  the  Essex  Institute.  For  this 
manuscript  was  the  original   record  of  the   Proprietary  of 


♦  Kelt.  Anna]-  of  Siilom,  i.  IS.').  See  nl-o  a  Salem  City  I>ocumeiil  (1S7.1  entitled 
"  Memorial  Service*  nt  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  Leslie'.-  K \|ii'iliiioii  to  Snleui, 
Sundin .  t'elininrj  -,;,  I77.r>."  See  al.-o  "  Leslie's  Ketreat"  l>>  C.  M.  Kmlit-oit,  in  Pro- 
ceed. Kssex  Inst.,  i.  v.i.     Also,  Kssc.x  Inst.  Hit  Coll.  Vol.  w  ii,  |>|>.  hw  it;, 

No  special  men!  ion  was*  made  in  these  Memorial  Services  held  in  the  North  Church, 
of  the  proprietors  of  North  fields  nnd  of  their  I  leclaration  of  Independence;  and 
yel  this  is  one  ol  the  most  remarkable  assertions  of  the  local  -pirn  which  kindled 
the  American  ({evolution.  Il  was  the  surviving  spirit  of  an  old  Kuglish  agrarian 
community,  an  institution  older  than  the  Cn>WMi  of  England,  a*  selling  its  sotureign, 
immemorial  right  to  ils  own  properly. 


42 

the  South  Fields  in  Salem,  an  old  agrarian  community, 
the  survival  of  an  institution  which  was  old  when  the 
Christian  Church  and  the  Roman  Empire  were  young. 
The  system  of  land  community  and  Common  Fields,  with 
small  individual  allotments  held  under  joint  control,  as 
instituted  at  Salem  and  Plymouth,  reminds  us  of  those  old 
Roman  days  described  by  Bradford,  the  historian  of  Ply- 
mouth Plantation,  in  the  words  of  Pliny  (lib.  18,  cap.  2)  : 
"  How  every  man  contented  himselfe  with  2  acres  of  land, 
and  had  no  more  assigned  them."  And  chap.  3.  "It  was 
thought  a  great  reward,  to  receive  at  ye  hands  of  ye  peo- 
ple of  Rome  a  pinte  of  corne.  And  long  after,  the  greatest 
presente  given  to  a  Captaine  y*  had  gotte  a  victory  over 
their  enemise,  was  as  much  ground  as  they  could  till  in 
one  day.  And  he  was  not  counted  a  good,  but  a  dangerous 
man,  that  would  not  contente  himselfe  with  7  Acres  ot 
land.  As  also  how  they  did  pound  their  corne  in  morters, 
as  these  people  were  forcte  to  doe  many  years  before  they 
could  get  a  mille."5 

The  records  of  the  South  Field  Proprietary  are  incom- 
plete. They  do  not  open  until  the  year  1680.  Originally 
they  covered  a  period  from  at  least  1672  to  1742.  But 
what  was  true  of  later  times  was  probably  also  true  of  the 
earlier.     There  is  but  little  change  in  agrarian  customs. 


6  Bradford,  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts 
Hist.  Soc,  4th  Series,  vol.  3,  168.  For  an  interesting  account  of  this  original  source 
of  New  England  history,  and  how  it  was  stolen  from  the  tower  of  the  old  South 
Church  in  Boston,  during  the  American  Revolution,  when  that  church  was  used  for 
a  riding  school  and  stable  by  British  soldiery,  see  the  Editorial  Preface  by  Mr. 
Charles  Deane;  see  also  an  interesting  paper  on  "  Governor  Bradford's  Manuscript 
History  of  Plymouth  Plantation  and  its  Transmission  to  our  Times,"  by  Professor 
Justin  Winsor,  of  Harvard  College,  a  paper  read  before  the  Mass.  Historical  So- 
ciety, Nov.  10,  1881.  The  existence  of  this  priceless  manuscript  in  the  library  of 
the  Bishop  of  London,  at  Putnam  on  the  Thames,  was  accidentally  discovered 
years  ago  by  members  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  which  had  a  copy 
made  from  the  original,  and  this  copy  was  published  by  the  Society  in  1856.  It  is 
one  of  the  surviving  shames  that  the  original  manuscript,  stolen  probably  by  some 
British  soldier,  has  never  yet  been  restored  by  England  to  New  England. 


43 

In  an  old  town  on  Cape  Cod  we  have  examined  a  continuous 
series  of  Commoners'  Records  from  the  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century  down  to  1880,  and  have  found  scarcely 
any  change  in  the  character  of  votes  or  the  modes  of 
business  procedure.  In  order,  however,  that  there  may 
be  no  question  as  to  the  nature  of  these  old  Common  Fields 
at  the  time  when  there  were  ten  of  them  in  the  one  town 
of  Salem,  letuseitea  few  extracts  from  the  Massachusetts 
Colony  Records,  which  supply  most  admirably  all  missing 
evidence  concerning  the  period  before  1(580.  In  the  spring 
of  1643,  the  year  the  Massachusetts  colony  was  divided 
into  four  shires,  with  Salem  heading  the  list  of  Essex 
towns,  it  was  ordered  by  the  General  Court,  "  For 
preventing  disorder  in  come  feilds  wch  are  inclosed  in 
common,  ....  that  those  who  have  the  greater  quantity 
in  such  feilds  shall  have  power  to  order  the  whole, 
notwithstanding  any  former  order  to  the  contrary,  &  that 
every  one  who  hath  any  part  in  such  common  feild  shall 
make  and  maiutaiue  the  fences  according  to  their  severall 
quantities."6 

In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  was  passed  an  Act  which 
leaves  no  doubt  as  to  what  was  meant  by  the  ordering  of 
afield.  "  Whereas  it  is  found  by  experience  that  there 
hath  bene  much  trouble  &  difference  in  severall  townes  about 
the  manner  of  planting,  sowing,  &  feeding  of  common 
conic  feilds,  &  that  upon  serious  consideration  wee  tinde 
no  generall  order  can  provide  for  the  best  improvement  of 
every  such  common  lleild,  by  reason  that  some  consists 
onehj  of  plowing  ground,  some  haveing  a  great  part  /it 
onehj J 'or planting,  some  of  meadowe  and  feeding  ground; 
also,  so  that  such  an  order  as  may  be  very  wholesome  & 
good  for  one  feild  ma}'  bee  exceeding  preiudiciall  & 
inconvenient    for  another, — it   is  therefore  ordered,    that 


Mas-.  Col.  ttee.  ii,  :S!I,  l!Ci 


44 

where  the  commoners  cannot  agree  about  the  manner  of 
improvement  of  their  feild,  either  concerning  the  kind  of 
graine  that  shalbee  somen  or  set  therein,  or  concerning  the 
time  or  manner  of  feeding  the  herbage  thereof,  that  then 
such  persons  in  the  severall  tovvnes  that  are  deputed  to 
order  the  prudenciall  affaires  thereof,  shall  order  the  same, 
or  in  case  where  no  such  are,  then  the  maior  part  of  the 
freemen,  who  are  hereby  enioyned  wth  what  convenient 
speed  they  may  to  determine  any  such  difference  as  may 
arise  upon  any  information  given  them  by  the  said  common- 
ers ;  &  so  much  of  any  former  order  as  concerns  the 
improvement  of  common  feilds,  &  that  is  hearby  provided 
for,  is  hearby  repealed."7  But  four  years  later,  the  Court 
went  back  to  the  old  system,  leaving  the  regulation  of 
Common  Fields  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  majority  of 
interested  proprietors. 8  The  above  order  is  significant 
of  the  actual  survival  in  New  England  of  old  English 
agrarian  customs. 

The  practice  of  allowing  the  selectmen,  in  so-called 
private  Town  Meeting,  to  regulate  the  management  of 
Common  Fields  seems,  from  the  town  records  of  Salem,  to 
have  been  already  in  vogue  in  this  place  before  the  passage 
of  the  above  Act,  at  least  as  regards  the  control  of  common 
fences  and  the  regulation  of  pasturage  upon  the  stubble 
lands.  In  the  spring  of  1638,  it  was  ordered  by  Mr. 
Endicott,  John  Woodbury,  aud  the  rest  of  the  Town 
Fathers,  "fforasmuch  as  divers  of  our  towne  are  resolued 
to  sowe  English  graine  this  spring  .  .  .  that  all  common 
&  particular  home  ffences  about  the  towne  shall  be  suffi- 
cientlie  made  vp  before  the  twentieth  of  the  ffirst  moneth 
next  [April]  vppon  the  payne  or  penaltie  of  5  s.  euerie 
day  after  that  any  one  is  defectiue  therein."9 

One  of  the  most   extraordinary  features   of  this   old 

»  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  ii  49.  »  Ibid,  195.  »Town  Records  of  Salem,  i,84. 


45 

system  of  common  husbandry,  as  practised  in  early 
Massachusetts,  was  the  impressment  of  artisans  by  the 
town  constable  to  aid  farmers  in  harvest  time.  This 
undoubted  power  of  the  community  over  the  time  and 
labor  of  its  individual  members,  a  power  seen  in  very 
recent  times  when  constables  impressed  labor  for  mending 
the  town  roads,  is  a  connecting  link  between  New  England 
towns  and  old  English  parishes.  The  following  is  the 
exact  text  of  a  colony  law  (1646),  upon  this  matter  of 
impressing  labor  in  harvest  time  :  "  Because  ye  harvest  of 
hay,  corne,  flax,  &  hemp  comes  usually  so  neare  together  y* 
much  losse  can  hardly  be  avoyded,  it  is  ordered  &  decreed 
by  y8  Courte,  yl  ye  cunstable  of  every  towne,  upon  request 
made  to  yw,  shall  require  artificers  or  handicrafts  men, 
meete  to  labour,  to  worke  by  ye  day  for  their  neighbours 
needing  ym,  in  mowing,  reaping,  &  inning  thereof,  and  yl 
those  whom  they  help  shall  duely  pay  ym  for  their  worke, 
&  if  any  person  so  required  shall  refuse,  or  ye  cunstable 
neglect  his  office  herein,  they  shall  each  of  ym  pay  to  ye 
use  of  ye  pore  of  ye  towne  double  so  much  as  such  a 
dayes  worke  comes  unto :  provided  no  artificer  &e,  shalbe 
compeled  to  worke  for  others  whiles  he  is  necessarily 
attending  on  like  busines  of  his  ownc."10  This  impress- 
ment of  laborers  for  harvest  was  only  the  revival  of  old 
English  parish  law,  n  and  is  precisely  the  same  in  principle 


Jo  Mass.  Col.  Bee.,  ii,  180-1. 

"In  I.ambard's  "Constable,  Horsholder,  and  Tythingman,"  acurious  ohl  vol- 
ume, published  in  the  year  1610,  we  And  the  following  law  :  "In  the  time  of  Hay.  or 
Cornharvest,  the  Constable,  or  any  such  other  Officer,  vpon  request  made,  and  for 
avoiding  the  losse  of  any  corne,  gralne.  or  hay,  may  cause  all  such  Artificers  and 
persons  (as  may  be  meete  to  labour)  by  his  discretion  to  serve  by  the  day,  for  the 
mowing,  reaping,  shearing,  getting,  or  inning  of  corne,  graine,  or  hay.  according  to 
the  skill  and  qualitie  of  the  person;  and  if  any  such  person  shall  refuse  .-«>  to  doe, 
then  ought  such  Officer  (vnder  the  pain  of  fortie  shillings)  to  imprison  such  refuser 
in  the  Stockes,  by  the  space  of  two  daies  and  one  night."  See  also  :>  Eli/.,  cap.  4. 
This  law  appears  to  have  been  in  operation  in  England  down  to  very  recent  times, 
sec  J.  W.  Willcock,  The  Office  of  Constable  (England,  1J.!7;  Philadelphia,  KMO, 
p.  3b). 

2 


46 

as  the  requirement  of  local  militia  by  the  Selectmen  to 
perform  escort  duty  in  the  transportation  of  grain  from 
the  frontier  towns  to  places  of  greater  security.  n  The 
case  of  Captain  Lathrop  of  Beverly,  and  his  company, 
"the  very  flower  of  the  county  of  Essex,"  as  Hubbard 
calls  them,  will  naturally  recur  to  the  Salem  mind.  These 
men  were  sent  as  a  guard  to  some  planters  who  were 
coming:  down  the  shore  of  the  Connecticut  river  from 
Deerfield  to  Hadley  with  wagon-loads  of  grain  and  house- 
hold goods.  In  crossing  Muddy  Brook,  now  called  Bloody 
Brook,  the  company  which  was  marching  carelessly  (some 
of  the  soldiers  having  put  their  guns  in  the  carts,  in  order 
to  be  free  to  gather  grapes)  were  suddenly  attacked  by 
Indians  from  the  adjoining  swamps,  and  nearly  the  whole 
band  of  soldiers  and  planters  were  cut  off. n 

Returning  now  to  the  old  records  of  the  South  Field 
Proprietary,  let  us  examine  a  few  illustrative  extracts, 
which,  to  the  outside  world,  will  doubtless  be  more 
interesting  in  their  original  form  than  they  would  in 
any  modern  paraphrase :  "It  is  ordered  &  voated  by  the 
proprietors  of  the  Southfield  that  the  proprietors  shall 
meet  on  the  last  Tuesday  in  ffebruary,  every  year  for  the 
making  such  orders  as  may  be  needfull  for  the  Good  of 
the  Southfield,  &  it  is  left  to  the  moderator  &  the  Clarke  u 
to  appoint  the  place  where  they  shall  meet  &  this  shall  be 
accounted  sufficient  warning  without  any  further  notice 
Given  of  the  tyme  when  to  meet,  &  it  is  farther  agreed 
that  such  as  doe  meet  shall  pay  Sixpence  each  person  to  be 
spent  at  the  house  where  they  meet  [at  a  tavern?]  and 
such  as  doe  not  meet  on  that  day  shall  pay  eighteen  pence 

"  Mass.  Col.  Bee,  v,  66. 

"  Judd's  History  of  Hadley,  147-9.  Edward  Everett's  Oration  at  Bloody  Brook. 
Washington  Gladden,  From  the  Hub  to  the  Hudson.  Several  grandchildren  of 
the  old  planters  of  Salem  and  Beverly  perished  in  that  terrible  massacre  at  Bloody 
Brook,  Sept.  18,1675.    See  Essex  Inst.  Hist.  Collections,  Vol.  xix,  pp.  137-142. 

14In  this  mode  of  spelling  "clerk,"  we  have  a  suggestion  of  Its  original 
pronunciation.    Compare  also  the  family  name,  'Clark.' 


47 

Each  person  for  non  appearance  and  this  to  stand  as  a 
Constant  order  Continually,  the  tyrae  of  the  day  is  to  be 
at  one  of  the  Clock."  The  proprietors  sometimes  met  at 
a  private  house,  and  perhaps  occasionally  in  the  open  fields. 
The  proceedings  at  a  proprietors'  meeting  were  always 
conducted  according  to  rules  of  parliamentary  procedure. 
A  New  England  man,  in  reading  the  old  Commoners' 
records  of  Salem,  would  be  chiefly  impressed  by  the  fact 
that  here  is  described  a  miniature  Town  Meeting.  A 
moderator  is  always  chosen  ;  a  clerk  records  the  proceed- 
ings;  surveyors  (not  of  highways)  but  of  fences  are 
appointed  ;  field  drivers  are  chosen  ;  and  taxes  levied. 

Among  the  officers  chosen  at  a  Commoners'  meeting  was 
the  Hay  ward,  or,  as  he  is  sometimes  called  in  the  later 
town  records,  "the  watchman  upon  the  walls  of  the 
pasture."  Old  Homer's  ancient  men,  watching  from  the 
walls  of  Troy  the  conflict  of  human  cattle,  were  hardly 
more  ancient  than  this  time-honored  agrarian  office.  The 
swine-herd  of  Odysseus  was  a  near  kinsman  of  the  Saxon 
Hay  ward.  The  office  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
haying,  or  with  grass-lots,  as  the  name  might  at  first  seem 
to  imply.  It  is  derived  from  the  Saxon  liege  (German 
Hag,  English  hedge)  and  means  the  warden  of  the  hedges 
or  fences.  Many  German  places  derive  their  names  from 
the  hedge  with  which  they  were  originally  surrounded  (e.  g. 
"VVendhagen,  Grubenhagcn,  the  Hague).  In  fact  the  word 
town  means  only  a  place  that  is  hedged  in,  from  the  old 
German  Zan  or  Tun,  modern  German  Zaun,  meaning  a 
hedge.  The  office  of  hay  ward  was  originally  constabulary 
in  character.  He  was  appointed  in  feudal  times  in  the 
Court  Lcet  (German  Leute),  or  popular  court  of  the  Nor- 
man manor  and  English  parish,  thus  coming  down  into  the 
parish  life  of  New  England. 

Let  us  now  glance  at  the  duties  of  the  ancient  watchman 
of  the  old  South  Field.     "Voted,  That  the  Gates  att  both 


48 

Ends  of  the  field  be  made  good  &  well  repaired.  And  that 
the  Little  Gates  Especially  be  Made  and  Hung  so  as  to  be 
easy  for  Travellers  to  pass  at  the  Charge  of  the  proprietary, 
and  that  the  Haywards  accordingly  are  Desired  &  Impow- 
ered  to  do  it  &  to  Render  an  Account  of  the  Charge 

the  next  proprietors  meeting" "Voated  that  the 

Haywards  .  .  or  any  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Southfield 
shall  have  power  to  take  up  &  Impound  any  horse  kind  or 
any  other  cattle  wch  shall  be  found  loose  upon  his  own 
ground  or  the  grounds  of  any  other  proprietor  of  the 
Southfield  feedings  unless  they  be  tyed  &  that  none  shall 
tether  in  the  night  time  vpon  the  penalty  of  what  the  law 
doth  determine  in  case  of  Damage  fleazant  [faisant] .  And 
this  to  be  from  the  tenth  of  April  [more  usually  25  of  March] 
to  the  14th  of  October  .  .  &  that  the  ffield  be  drove 
by  the  Hay  ward  the  10th  of  Aprill  &  not  to  be  broken 
open  till  14th  October  next."  M  This  custom  of  clearing 
the  Common  Field  of  all  creatures  in  the  spring  and  of 
breaking  down  the  barriers  again  in  the  fall,  so  that  the  cat- 
tle of  the  whole  village  may  pasture  upon  the  stubble  is  quite 
parallel  to  the  old  English 16  Lammas  lands,  which  belong 
to  individuals  but  are  subject  to  certain  rights  of  common- 
age. Lammas  day,  when  the  fences  of  the  Common  Fields 
were  thrown  down,  was  the  occasion  of  a  village  festival 
in  old  England. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  old  England  there  were 
two  sorts  of  pasturage  in  Common  Fields,  whence  crops 
had  been  gathered,  (1)  stinted,  (2)  unstinted.     The  latter 


15  A  similar  order,  taken  from  the  latter  part  of  the  South  Field  Records  (1741)  is 
even  more  striking  than  the  above  which  bears  the  date  of  1695 :  Voted,  That  no 
Person  shall  Teder  any  Hor6e  Kind  Cattle  &c  in  said  field,  in  the  Night  time,  Nor 
in  the  Day  time,  Neither  shall  any  Persons  Bait  their  Creatures  on  their  own  Land 
on  Penalty  of  forfeiting  their  Herbage,  save  only  while  they  are  at  work  there  .  .  . 
the  Haywards  to  Judge  of  the  Same  and  to  Debar  them  of  their  Herbage  in  the 
fall  according  to  their  Discretion  or  Have  Power  to  take  their  Creatures  from  their 
Tedering  Ropes  &  Impound  them  which  they  shall  think  most  proper." 

"Laveleye,  Primitive  Property,  114, 241. 


49 

must  have  been  customary  at  Salem  during  the  early  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  but  at  the  time  the  records  of 
the  South  Field  begin,  1680,  stinted  pasturage  was  the 
rule.  In  that  year  it  was  voted  "  That  on  ye  14  of  October 
next  ye  Proprietors  have  Liberty  to  put  in  Catle  For 
Herbige  .  .  yl  is  to  say  6  Cows  4  Oxen  3  Horses  or  12 
Yearlings  or  24  Calves  to  10  Acors  of  Land  and  so  in 
proportion  to  Greater  or  Lesser  Quantities  of  Land 
According  as  they  Have  &  no  person  shall  Cutt  or  Stripe 
their  Indian  Come  Stalkes  after  they  have  gathered  their 
Come  on  penalty  of  forriting  Herbidge."  At  first  sight, 
such  a  law  might  seem  merely  the  resultant  of  local 
conditions,  and  of  the  somewhat  commonplace  discovery 
that  Indian  corn-stalks  were  good  for  foddering  cattle. 
But  there  were  similar  laws  in  the  agrarian  communities 
of  old  England  at  this  period.  Gleaners  had  definite 
rights,  and  it  was  required  that  grain-stalks  should  be  left 
at  a  certain  height  for  the  benefit  of  the  village  cattle. 
It  appears  from  the  South  Field  records  that  rights  to 
rt  herbage"  could  be  leased  and  transferred  :  "  When  the 
proprietors  Shall  put  in  their  Creatures  for  Herbage  they 
Shall  Give  an  Account  to  the  Haywards  of  the  Number 
of  the  same  And  Whosoever  shall  Hire  Herbage  of  any 
person  Shall  bring  from  Under  the  Hand  of  the  Leasor 
for  so  much  as  he  Hires  to  the  Haywards  by  the  14  of 
October  Next."  Two  other  points  are  especially  worthy 
of  attention.  First,  many  of  the  lots  in  the  South  Field 
appear  to  have  been  very  small,  a  half  acre,  three  quarters 
of  an  acre,  an  acre,  and  so  on  in  such  small  proportions. 
Second,  bits  of  common  land  lying  in  the  great  field  were 
granted  out  by  the  Proprietary  to  individuals  for  a  term 
of  seven  years. 


SALEM 
MEADOWS,  WOODLAND,  AND  TOWN  NECK, 


BY  HERBERT  B.  ADAMS. 


We  have  examined  the  subject  of  common  fields,  where 
planting  lands  were  associated  together  under  certain  com- 
munal laws  as  regards  the  choice  of  crops,  the  regulation  of 
fences,  the  reservation  of  herbage,  and  the  employment  of 
the  lands  of  individuals  for  a  common  pasture  in  the  fall 
of  the  year.  We  have  seen  that  the  old  English  system 
of  land  community  was  reproduced  at  Salem  in  some  of  its 
most  striking  features.  Let  us  now  briefly  consider 
the  topics  of  common  meadow,  common  woodland,  and 
common  pasture,  in  the  full  sense  of  that  term.  In  these 
matters  we  shall  find  that  the  old  English  customs  were 
still  more  minutely  followed.  The  first  item  of  interest, 
in  connection  with  the  subject  of  common  meadow,  is  the 
fact  that  the  Old  Planters1  enjoyed  such  a  common  all  for 
themselves.  It  was  known  as  "the  Old  Planters  medow 
ncere  Wenham2  common."     And  yet  even  this  meadow 

'Town  Records  of  Salem,  i,  7<i,  138. 

'  Wenham  Common  is  mentioned  only  onee  in  the  town  records  of  Salem,  but 
Wenham  Swamps  are  frequently  noticed.  These  great  swamps  are  interesting 
because  they  continued  for  many  years  common  to  both  Ipswich  and  Wenham,  ns 
were  certain  swamps  to  Plymouth  and  Plympton.  By  an  Act  of  the  Province 
legislature  in  17.V>,  the  proprietors  of  Ipswich  and  Wenham  were  authorized  to 
meet  and  prohibit  the  general  use  of  Wenham  Great  Swamp  as  a  common  pasture, 
in  order  that  the  growth  of  w<*>d  and  timber  might  not  be  hindered.  (Province 
Laws,  iii,  790). 

Wen'iam  is  a  curious  case  of  one  town  budding  from  another.  It  appears  from 
the  Massachusetts  Colony  Records  (i,'279)  that  the  inhabitants  of  Salem  agreed  to 
plant  a  village  near  Ipswich  River  and  the  Court  thereupon  ordered,  in  1(>3U,  that 
all  lands  lying  between  Salem  and  said  river,  not  belonging  by  grant  to  any  other 
town  or  person,  should  belong  to  said  village.  In  KU3,  it  was  ordered  by  the  Court 
that  "  Knon"  lie  called  "  Wcnnan"  and  constitute  a  town,  with  power  to  send  one 
deputy  to  the  General  Court  (li,  4-4).  Johnson,  in  his  Wonderworking  Providence 
(W.  F.  Poole's  ed„  189),  calls  Wenham  Salem's  "  littlo   sister."    lie  says  Salem 

(51) 


52  OLD  planters'  meadows. 

was  under  the  authority  of  the  town,  for  it  was  ordered 
in  1638  "that  the  meadow  that  is  in  common  amongst 
some  of  our  Brethren  Mr.  Conant  &  others  shall  be  fenced 
in  the  ffirst  day  of  April  &  left  common  again  the  last  of 
September  euery  yeare."  This  signifies  that  a  piece  of 
grass-land  common  to  a  little  group  of  men  for  mowing 
was  also  common  to  the  whole  town  for  pasture  in  the 
fall. 8 

The  whole  town  of  Salem  once  had  its  common  meadows, 
just  as  did  the  town  of  Plymouth,4  where  the  practice 
continued  long  after  the  partnership  with  the  London 
merchants  was  dissolved.  In  both  places,  it  was  long 
customary  in  town  meeting  to  assign  lots  where  men  should 
mow  for  one  year,  or  for  a  longer  period.  The  word  "  lot" 
as  applied  to  land  carries  a  history  in  itself.  In  1637,  it 
was  ordered  by  the  selectmen  of  Salem  "that  all  the  marsh 
ground  that  hath  formerlie  beene  Laid  out  for  hay  grass 
shall  be  measured."5  This  was  the  first  step  towards  the 
allotment  of  the  Salem  meadoAvs.  Before  this  time  they 
had  been  absolutely  common,  as  is  clear  from  a  vote  like 
the  following,  passed  in  1686,  by  the  Selectmen  :  "Wm. 
Knight  Recd  for  an  inhabitant,  but  noe  Lands  to  appropriat 
vnto  him  but  a  10  acre  lott,  &  common  for  his  cattle  grasse 


nourished  her  up  in  her  own  bosom  till  she  became  of  age,  and  gave  her  a  goodly 
portion  of  land.  "  Wenham  is  very  well-watered,  as  most  inland  Towns  are,  the 
people  live  altogether  upon  husbandry,  New  England  having  trained  up  great 
store  to  this  occupation,  they  are  increased  in  cattle,  and  most  of  them  live  very 
well,  yet  are  they  no  great  company;  they  were  some  good  space  of  time  there 
before  they  gathered  into  a  Church-body"  [1044]. 

»Mr.  William  P.  Upham,  in  the  bulletin  of  the  Essex  Institute,  ii,  51,  says,  in 
1053  the  town  granted  to  George  Emery  the  herbage  of  that  parcel  of  land  which 
was  John  Woodbury's  in  the  old  planters'  marsh  and  all  right  of  commonage  the  town 
might  have  claimed  to  him  and  bis  heirs  forever,  and  in  1058,  to  Wm.  Hathorne  the 
town's  right  and  privileges  in  the  planters'  marsh.  Mr.  Upham  thinks  the  marsh 
was  common  to  the  old  planters  before  Endicott's  arrival,  ii,  52. 

*  Bradford,  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  2}0^7,  Plymouth  Col.  Rec,  i,  14, 
40,50. 

'Town  Records  qf  Sajem,  i,  44. 


DIVISION   AMONG   FAMILIES.  53 

&  hay"6  Eight  months  after  the  above  order  in  reference 
to  the  measurement  of  the  meadows,  it  was  "agreed  that 
the  marsh  meadow  Lands  that  haue  formerly  layed  in 
common  to  this  Towne  shall  now  be  appropriated  to  the 
Inhabitants  of  Salem, proportioned  out  vnto  them  according 
to  the  heads  of  their  families.  To  those  that  haue  the 
greatest  number  an  acre  thereof  &  to  those  that  haue  least 
not  aboue  haue  an  acre,  &  to  those  that  are  betweene  both 
3  quarters  of  an  acre,  alwaies  provided  &  it  is  so  agreed 
that  none  shall  sell  away  theire  proportions  of  meadow, 
more  or  lesse,  nor  lease  them  out  to  any  aboue  3  yeares, 
vnlesse  they  sell  or  lease  out  their  howseswtlltheir  meadow."7 
This  restriction  upon  the  alienation  of  allotted  land  is 
repeatedly  paralleled  in  the  records  of  Plymouth  Planta- 
tion, where  grants  were  made  to  lie  to  so  and  so's  house-lot 
in  Plymouth  and  not  to  be  sold  from  it. 8 

The  above  division9 of  Salem  meadows  among  the  fami- 
lies of  the  town  was  managed  by  the  "ffive  Layers  out," 
Captain  Trask,  Mr.  Conant,  John  Woodbury,  John  Balch, 
and  Jeffrey  Massey.  In  the  town  records,  there  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Conant,  a  list  of  the  heads 
of  families,  and  before  each  name  stands  the  number  of 
persons  thereby  represented.  Roger  Conant  headed  a 
family  of  nine  persons  ;  John  Woodbury,  six  ;  John  Balch, 
six;  Captain  Trask,  seven;  and  Mr.  Endicott,  nine. 
These  heads  of  households  received  each  an  acre,  for,  by 


•  Ibid,  28.  'Ibid,  61,  101-4. 

•  Restrictions  upon  the  alienation  of  land  were  very  frequent  at  Plymouth  and 
elsewhere.  See  Ply.  Col.  i,  46  (eight  cafes),  82.  Cf.  Laveleye,  Primitive  Property, 
118.  121,  162.  Mass.  Bee.,  1,201;  Conn,  liec,  i,  351;  Allen,  Wenham,  20;  Freeman, 
Cape  Coil,  ii,  254;  Lambert,  New  Haven,  163;  Bond.  Watertown,  996. 

•The  granting  of  hay-lots  by  t he  year  to  old  and  new  comers  went  on  to  some 
extent  after  the  above  division  of  the  common  meadow,  which  doubtless  remained 
common,  like  the  Old  Planters'  meadow,  alter  the  hay  had  been  gathered.  The 
following  is  a  specimen  of  an  annual  hay-grant:  "Graunted  for  the  yeare  to  mr. 
flit>k  &  Mr.  flbgge  the  hay  grasse  of  the  salt  marsh  medow.  at  the  side  of  the  old 
Planters  fields"  Town  Krc.  of  Salem,  i.  8*. 


54  WOOD-COMMONAGE. 

the  town  vote,  the  greatest  families  could  not  have  more 
than  that  amount  of  meadow.  It  gratifies  one's  sense  of 
justice  to  be  assured  that  Goodwife  Scarlet,  Mistress 
Robinson,  the  Widow  More,  Widow  Mason,  Widow  Fel- 
ton,  Widow  Greene,  and  "Vincent's  mother"  received 
each  their  proper  allowance. 

Common  of  wood,  as  well  as  of  meadow,  was  long 
practised  at  Salem.  It  was  ordered  in  1636,  that  all  the 
land  along  the  shores  on  Darby's  Fort  Side,  up  to  the 
Hogsties  and  thence  towards  Marblehead, 10  along  the  shore 
and  for  twenty  rods  inland,  should  be  "reserued  for  the 
Commons  of  the  towne  to  serue  it  for  wood  &  timber."11 
But  the  privilege  of  wood  commonage  was  not  to  beabused. 
Whatever  a  townsman  needed  for  fuel,  fencing,  or  building 
purposes,  he  could  freely  have,  but  it  was  strictly  ordered 
that  "noe  sawen  boards,  clap  boards  or  other  Timber  or 
wood  be  sold  or  transported"  out  of  town  by  any  inhabi- 
tant unless  the  above  be  first  offered  for  sale  "  to  the 
thirteene  men."12  Similar  restrictions  in  regard  to  the 
export  of  timber  prevailed  in  Plymouth  Colony. 13  In  the 
early  history  of  Massachusetts,  the  colonial  government, 
at  one  time,  undertook  to  regulate  the  cutting  of  timber, 


10  Marblehead  is  an  interesting  case  of  a  town  voluntarily  created  by  another 
town.  Usually  legislative  action  came  first  and  towns  were  forced  to  allow  the 
secession  of  precincts.  In  1648,  it  was  declared  at  a  general  town  meeting  in 
Salem  that "  Marble  Head,  with  the  allowance  of  the  general  Court,  shal  be  a  towne, 
and  the  bounds  to  be  the  vtmost  extent  of  that  land  which  was  mr.  Humphries 
fa i*m e  and  sould  to  Marble  Head,  and  soe  all  the  neck  to  the  Sea,  reserving  the 
disposing  of  the  fferry  and  the  appoynting  of  the  fferry  man  to  Salem."  (Town 
Kec,  i,  156-7).  Cf.  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  i,  165.  "It  was  proued  this  Court  that  Marble 
Necke  belongs  to  Salem."  Cf.  Ibid,  226.  In  1649,  May  2,  "  Upon  the  petition  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Marble  Head,  for  them  to  be  a  towne  of  themselues;  Salem  haveing 
granted  them  to  be  a  towne  of  themselues,  &  appointed  them  the  bounds  of  their 
towne,  w°h  the  Courte  doth  graunt."  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  ii,  266. 

11  Town  Records  of  Salem,  i,  17,  34, 112, 196, 219. 

"Ibid  30-1.  An  Act  for  the  Preservation  of  Timber  may  be  found  in  the  Statutes 
of  the  Realm,  27  Eliz.  An  Act  concerning  "  clap  boards"  occurs  in  the  35  Eliz. 
u  Plymouth  Col.  Rec,  Book  of  Deeds,  8. 


COMMON    PASTURE.  55 

by  requiring  permission  therefor  from  the  nearest  assistant14 
or  his  deputy,  but  this  regulation  seems  to  have  been  of  no 
practical  consequence.  The  matter  was  tacitly  relegated 
to  the  towns,  and  the}'  delegated  the  execution  of  their 
forestry  laws  to  their  own  selectmen. 

We  have  considered  the  topics  of  House  Lots,  Plant- 
ing Lands,  Meadow  Lands  and  Wood  Lands.  The  first 
two  groups  were  lands  held  in  severalty,  although  Plant- 
ing Lands  were  common  for  a  part  of  the  year.  The 
three  chief  categories  of  strictly  Common  Land  are  Wood, 
Pasture,  and  Meadow,  corresponding  to  the  old  German 
terms,  Wcdd,  Weide,  und  Wie.se.  The  reappearance  of 
Common  Wood  and  Common  Meadow  in  the  land  system 
of  Salem  we  have  already  seen.  We  come  now  to  the 
last,  and,  in  some  respects,  the  most  interesting  division 
of  our  subject,  namely,  Common  Pasture.  This  should 
not  be  confounded  with  the  temporary  pasturing  of 
stubble  lands  or  hay  meadows  after  harvest.  Heal  Com- 
mon Pasture  is  always  common,  and  there  are  usually  no 
allotments  of  land  in  severalty. 

A  recent  number  of  the  Contemporary  Rev ieiv  contains 
an  interesting  sketch  of  customs  of  common  pasturage 
that  still  survive  in  Germany.  The  article  is  entitled 
"  Notes  from  a  German  Village,"  and  was  written  by  an 
English  professor15  who  spent  a  summer  vacation  in  the 
little  town  of  Gross  Tabarz,  on  the  northern  slope  of  the 
Thnringian  mountains.  "Early  every  line  morning,"  ho 
says,  "we  were  awaked  by  the  blowing  of  the  Kuh-hirCs 
horn  as  he  passed  through  the  village,  and  any  one  watch- 
ing his  progress   would  see  a  cow  turned  out   from   one 


14  Mans.  Col.  Roc,  i,  101.    Cf.  JiiiIkc  Kndicotl's  Urief,  I. vim  v.  Naliiint,  li. 
"Contemporary  Review,  July,  IWI.    Article  l>y  Prufe.tMir  Alilif. 


56  NEAT-HERD8,    8WINE-HERD8,    GOAT-HERDS. 

outhouse,  two  more  out  of  a  second,  and  soon,  the  proces- 
sion gradually  increasing  until,  on  leaving  the  village, 
the  Hirt  and  his  assistant  would  have  from  eighty 
to  a  hundred  and  twenty  cows  and  bulls  under  the 
charge  of  themselves  and  their  two  dogs.  In  wander- 
ing in  the  daytime  through  the  forests  we  often  heard 
from  a  distance  the  tinkling  of  the  large  bells  which 
the  cows  carry,  and  in  a  few  minutes  would  meet  the 
whole  procession  coming  gently  along  the  high  road  or 
narrow  lane,  somewhat  to  the  alarm  of  the  more  timid 
members  of  our  party,  but  by  no  means  to  the  dimi- 
nution of  the  picturesqueness  of  the  scene.  By  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening  the  Hirt  had  gathered  his  flock 
together,  and  driven  them  back  to  the  village,  where  the 
ox  knows  its  owner,  and,  unbidden,  each  turns  into  its 
own  stable." 

When  we  read  the  above  description,  we  were  tempted 
to  believe  that  the  English  professor  had  written  his  story 
of  summer  experience  upon  the  basis  of  old  records  in 
Salem.  Like  the  villages  of  the  Thuringian  Forest, 
Salem  once  had  its  cowherds,  swineherds,  and  goatherds. 
They  too,  of  old  time,  came  through  the  streets  of  the 
village  blowing  their  horns,  and  creatures  were  turned 
out  to  their  pastoral  care.  In  the  spring  of  1641, 
it  was  agreed  in  Salem  town  meeting  that  "Laurance 
Southweeke  &  William  Woodbury  shall  keepe  the  milch 
cattell  &  heifers  .  .  this  summer  .  .  .  They  are  to  be- 
gin to  keepe  them,  the  6th  day  of  the  2d  moneth.  And 
their  lyme  of  keeping  of  them  to  end,  the  15th  day  of 
the  9th  moneth.  They  are  to  driue  out  the  Cattell 
when  the  Sun  is  halfe  an  hower  high,  &  bring  them 
in  when  the  sun  is  halfe  an  hower  high.  The  cattle 
are  to  be  brought  out  in  the  morning  into  the  pen  neere 


CATTLE  PENS.   .   .   .   BRANDING  CATTLE.     57 

to  Mr.  Downings  pale.  And  the  keepers  are  to  drive 
them  &  bring  such  cattle  into  the  Pen  as  they  doe  receaue 
from  thence."18 

The  duty  of  village  swineherds  was  similar.  Early  in 
the  morning  they  were  "  to  blow  their  home"  as  they  went 
along  the  street  past  the  houses,  and  the  townsmen  brought 
out  their  swine  to  the  keeper,  who  took  charge  of  the 
drove  until  sunset,  when  all  returned  to  town  and  every 
townsman  received  his  swine  again,  which  he  kept  over 
night  in  a  pen  upon  his  own  premises.17  The  cattle  were 
also  kept  over  night  by  each  owner,  either  in  private  yards 
or  in  the  common  cow  houses.18  In  the  morning  the 
creatures  were  driven  to  the  great  Cattle  Pen,19  at  the  gate 
of  which  the  herdsman  stood  waiting,  and,  at  a  certain 
hour,  drove  all  afield.  If  a  townsman  arrived  late  with 
his  cows,  there  was  no  help  for  it,  but  to  follow  after  and 
catch  up  with  the  herd,  or  else  to  be  his  own  herdsman 
that  day  and  run  the  risk  of  his  cows  breaking  into  in- 
closures  upon  the  plantation.20  The  herdsman  was  origi- 
nally paid  for  his  services  by  the  town,  but  afterwards  by 
individuals,  at  a  rate  fixed  upon  in  town  meeting,  usually 
about  four  shillings  sixpence  per  season,  for  the  charge  of 
every  cow,  the  settlement  being  made  in  butter,  wheat, 
and  Indian  corn.21  The  cattle  of  every  town  were  marked 
with  the  first  letter  of  the  town's  name,  roughly  painted 
with  pitch.  Towns  whose  names  began  with  the  same  let- 
ter, for  example,  Salem,  Salisbury,  Sudbury,  Strawberry 
Bank  (Portsmouth)  were  obliged  to  agree  upon  differ- 
ently shaped  letters.     Salem  had  a  plain  capital  S  ;  Salis- 


'"Tiiwn  accords  of  Salem,  i,  99.  For  other  illustrations  of  the  duties  of  the 
Town's  Herdsmen,  see  Kelt's  Annals,  i.  277-80.  Herdsmen  were  employed  in  the 
Great  Pastures  of  Salem  down  to  a  very  recent  date.    Kelt,  i,  '11*2. 

"  Hist.  (oil.  Essex  Inst.  xl,  3*3.    Town  Records  of  Salem,  i,  10*). 

"  Ibid,  I>4.  "  Ibid,  10,  39,  40,  86.  »»  Ibid,  41.  "  Ibid,  207. 


58  TOWN   FLOCKS,  HERDS   AND   HOUNDS. 

bury,  the  sign  of  the  dollar,  $ ;  Sudbury  added  an  up- 
right dash  to  the  top  of  its  initial  S ;  Strawberry  Bank 
added  a  straight  stroke  downward  from  the  tail  end  of  its 
S.22 

It  is  perhaps  not  generally  known  that  Salem  had  not 
only  town  herdsmen,  but  actually  town  cows,  town  sheep,23 
town  dogs,24  and  a  town  horse.25  In  the  town  records  we 
read  of  a  "  townes  cowe  "  killed  by  the  butcher,  and  the 
Selectmen  are  ordered  to  sell  the  beef  and  hide  for  the 
town's  benefit.  Both  cows  and  sheep  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  town  in  settlement  for  debts  or  taxes. 
But  a  most  singular  order  was  that  which  was  passed  in 
Salem  in  1645,  whereby  half  a  dozen  brace  of  hounds  were 
to  be  brought  out  of  England,  the  charges  to  be  borne  by  the 
town.  These  town  dogs  were  probably  used  for  herding 
cattle  or  hunting  wolves.  Perhaps  Salem's  order  was  the 
first  suggestion  for  the  Act  passed  by  the  colonial  legisla- 
ture of  Massachusetts  three  years  later,  whereby  the  Select- 
men of  every  town  were  authorized  to  purchase,  at  the 
town's  expense,  as  many  hounds  as  should  be  thought  best 
for  the  destruction  of  wolves,  and  to  allow  no  other  dogs 
to  be  kept  in  town,  except  by  magistrates,  or  by  special 
permit.26 

Town  flocks  and  herds,  and  town  herdsmen  imply  the 
existence  of  town  pastures.  The  first  mention  of  this 
subject  in  the  town  records  of  Salem  was  in  1634,  shortly 
alter  the  division  of  the  ten  acre  lots.  It  was  then  agreed 
that  the  Town  Neck  should  be  preserved  for  the  feeding  of 


"  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  ii,  190,  225.       «  Town  Records  of  Salem,  i,  185, 189, 195. 

»« Ibid,  139.  «  Felt,  Salem,  i,  281. 

3«  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  ii. 252-3,  ibid  for  law  relating  to  Sheep  Commons.  The  keep- 
ing of  greyhounds  for  coursing  deer  or  hare,  and  of  setters  for  hunting,  was  for- 
bidden in  the  parishes  of  Old  England.  See  Lambard's  Constable  (1610)  81,  and 
the  statute  I  Jac,  Cap.  27. 


STINTING    THE   NECK   LANDS.  59 

cattle  on  the  Sabbath.  Individuals  were  forbidden  to  feed 
their  goats  there  on  week-days,  but  were  required  to  drive 
them  to  one  of  the  larger  Commons,  so  that  the  grass  upon 
the  Neck  land  might  have  a  chance  to  grow  for  pasture  on 
the  Lord's  day. 7  For  Salem,  the  Town  Neck  was  a  kind 
of  home-lot  for  baiting  the  town's  cattle.  In  old  Eng- 
land  such  a  pasture  would  have  been  termed  a  Ham.  Wil- 
liam Marshall,  an  English  writer  of  the  last  century,  in 
describing  the  agrarian  customs  of  his  country,  says : 
"  On  the  outskirts  of  the  arable  lands,  where  the  soil  is 
adapted  to  the  pasturage  of  cattle  .  .  one  or  more  stinted 
pastures,  or  hams,  were  laid  out  for  milking  cows,  work- 
ing cattle,  or  other  stock  which  required  superior  pastur- 
age in  summer."28  The  practice  of  stinting  the  Neck  land 
for  pasture  must  have  begun  at  a  very  early  date,  but  not 
much  is  said  about  the  matter  in  the  published  volume  of 
the  town  records  (1634-1659).  However,  the  following 
vote  of  .the  old  Commoners,  in  the  year  1714,  will  serve 
to  illustrate  the  principle  as  applied  to  a  permanent  town 
pasture  :  "  Voted,  that  ye  neck  of  land  to  yc  Eastward 
of  the  Block  house  be  granted  and  reserved  for  ye  use  of 
ye  town  of  Salem,  for  a  pasture  for  milch  cows  and  rid- 
ing horses,  to  be  fenced  at  ye  town's  charge,  and  let  to  ye 
inhabitants  of  ye  town  by  ye  selectmen  and  no  one  person 
to  be  admitted  to  put  into  said  pasture  in  a  summer  more 
than  one  milch  cow  or  one  riding  horse,  and  ye  whole 
number  not  to  exceed  two  and  a  half  acres  to  a  cow  and 


"Town  Records  of  Salem,  i,  9. 

*•  Laveleye,  Primitive  Property,  245,  cf.  69.  Nasso,  in  his  Agricultural  Com- 
munity of  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  10.  quoting  Marshall,  observes  :  "  Every  village  .  . 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  dwelling-houses  and  farm-buildings,  had  some 
few  inclosed  grass  lands  for  the  rearing  of  calves,  or  for  other  cattle  which  it 
might  be  thought  necessary  to  keep  near  the  village  (the  common  farmstead  or 
homestall)." 


60  TOWN  FARM  AND  POOR  HOUSE. 

four  acres  to  a  horse ;  ye  rent  to  be  paid  into  ye  town 
treasurer  for  ye  time  being  for  ye  use  of  the  town  of 
Salem."29  Authority  to  stint  common  pasturage  was 
given  by  the  colonial  legislature  to  the  selectmen  of  every 
town  in  the  year  1673.30 

It  is  noteworthy  that  a  part  of  the  Neck  lands  con- 
tinued to  be  used,  and  was  specially  known  as  a  Town 
Pasture  until  long  after  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. According  to  a  survey  made  in  the  year  1728, 
there  were  at  that  time  about  one  hundred  and  three  acres 
of  land  in  the  Town  Neck,  a  part  of  it  having  been 
planted  by  poor  people  holding  cottage  rights  during  the 
town's  pleasure.  In  1735,  that  part  of  Winter  Island 
which  was  not  needed  for  drying  fish  was  let  out  with  the 
Neck  as  a  common  "town  pasture,"  and  so  both  Neck  and 
Island  continued  to  be  used  together  with  a  common 
stint,  e.  g.,  "2£  acres  to  a  cow  &  4  to  a  horse,"  but  with 
special  preference  allowed  to  inhabitants  dwelling  nearest 
the  Neck.  In  1765  the  town  authorized  its  treasurer  to 
let  the  Island  and  the  Neck  together  for  the  pasturage  of 
seventy-two  milch  cows  at  10s.  8d.  In  1824  Winter  Isl- 
and was  annexed  to  the  so-called  Alms  House  Farm, 
which,  by  this  time  had  enclosed  about  ninety  acres  of  the 
old  Neck  lands.  Instead  of  the  town's  cattle,  the  town's 
poor  were  now  fed  in  commons  upon  the  Town's  Neck. 
It  is  a  curious  and  instructive  commentary  upon  the  trans- 
formation of  communal  institutions,  that  an  old  Town 
Pasture   should  become  the   material  basis  for  a  Town 


»•  Report  of  the  City  Solicitor  on  the  sale  of  the  Neck  Lands,  communicated  to 
the  City  Council,  Dec.  27,  1858.  To  Judge  Endicott's  valuable  report  we  have  been 
greatly  indebted  for  facts  in  the  paragraphs  concerning  Winter  Island  and  the 
Town  Neck.    Cf.  Felt's  Annals  of  Salem,  i,  191-2. 

»°  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  iv,  Part  2,  563. 


NECK    GATE    DISAPPEARS.  61 

Farm  and  a  Hospital.31  The  twenty-three  acres  remaining 
from  the  Neck  land  passed  under  the  control  of  the  Over- 
seers of  the  Poor,  who  annually  appointed  a  Hay  ward  and 
voted  when  the  town  or  city  of  Salem  (city  since  183fi) 
might  drive  its  cows  afield.  Of  course  a  fixed  rate  was 
now  demanded  for  every  creature  and  accommodations 
were  strictly  limited.  There  used  to  be  gates  leading 
into  the  Town  Pasture  upon  the  Neck.  They  seem  to 
have  lasted  until  a  comparatively  recent  period,  for  a 
Salem  poet  of  our  time  has  sung  their  praises. 

What  rapturous  joy 
Kindles  the  heart  of  an  old  Salem  boy, 
As  he  returns,  though  but  iu  thought,  to  take 
That  old  familiar  walk  "  down  to  the  Neck  !  " 
The  old  "  Neck  Gate  "  swings  open  to  his  view. 
At  morn  and  eve,  to  let  the  cows  pass  through.38 


11 "  In  1747,  a  committee  having  been  appointed  to  select  a  site  for  a  pest  house, 
reported  Roadie's  Point  on  the  Neck  (where  the  work  house  now  stands),  and  rec- 
ommended one  to  be  built  there.  The  Town  accepted  the  report,  and  voted  a  siun 
to  build  it,  "and  that  Roadie's  Point  be  the  place  for  erecting  said  house  "(see 
above  Report,  13).  "  It  also  appears  from  the  records  that  the  town  exchanged 
certain  portions  of  the  land  received  from  the  commoners,  about  live  acres,  for 
land  belonging  to  Allen's  farm  at  Roache's  Point  and  at  Pigeon  Cove.  And  in 
1799,  a  hospital  was  built  for  small  pox  patients,  which  was  standing  within  the 
last  twenty  years  "  {ibid,  14). 

We  note  that  a  Work  House  was  ordered  by  the  town  of  Salem,  March  lfi,  1770, 
to  be  placed  on  the  northeast  part  of  the  present  Town  Common  or  Training 
Field.  Some  very  interesting  rules  for  the  management  of  a  parish  Work  House, 
whicli  is  an  Old  English  institution,  may  be  found  in  the  MS.  Town  Records  of 
Salem  under  the  dato  of  March,  1772. 

3a  From  Mr.  ISrooks*  poem,  previously  mentioned. 


[Fkom  Historical  Collections  of  the  Essex  Institute,  Vol.  XX, 
pp.  101-17!).] 


THE 

GREAT  PASTURES  OF  SALEM. 


BY  HERBERT  B.  ADAMS. 


Originally  there  were  still  larger  Town  Pastures  in 
Salem  than  the  Town  Neck.  These  were  known  as  Cow 
Pastures  or  the  Cattle  Range.  In  1640  it  was  resolved 
by  the  Town  that  none  of  the  Commons  within  the  Cattle1 
Range  should  henceforth  be  granted  to  any  individual  use. 
The  boundaries  of  this  great  tract,  known  as  the  Cattle 
Range,  are  described  in  the  original  records  as  beginning 
at  the  head  of  Forest  river,  where  fresh  and  salt  water 
meet,  and  as  extending  thence  southward,  and  up  to  Mr. 
Humphrey's  farm,"  thence  to  the  pond,  "and  so  about  to 
Brooksby,"  or  to  the  present  town  of  Peabody.  The  area 
of  this  great  Common  Pasture  once  embraced  about  four 
thousand  acres,  and  what  remains  of  it  is  known  to  this 


1  Town  Records  of  Snlcm.  i.  108,  109.  Felt.  Annals  of  Salem,  i,  199. 
Q"  It  i--  agreed,  that  Mr.  Ilumfrey  his  ground  shall  begin  al  the  dill,  in  the  way 
to  Marble  Head,  well  is  the  hound  betwixt  Salem  A:  I. inn  .V  so  along  the  line  be- 
tween the  said  townes  to  the  rocks,  one  mile  by  estimation.  lo  the  great  red  oako 
marked,"  ete.  See  Mass.  Col.  Hecords.  i,  -2fi.  Mr.  lliiuilrcy's  Farm  was  the  his- 
toric germ  of  Swamnscott.  He  was  one  of  the  six  original  patentee-  ol  the  Massa- 
chusetts Colony. 

(63) 


64 

day  as  the  Great  Pastures  of  Salem.  They  now  embrace 
about  three  hundred  acres  and  are  a  familiar  land-mark  to 
every  native  of  the  region.  A  local  bard  has  not  forgot- 
ten them  in  his  enumeration  of  the  attractive  features  of 
this  ancient  town  : 

"  The  old  town-pastures  have  not  passed  from  sight, 
'  Delectable  Mountains '  of  his  childhood  —  there 
They  stretch  away  into  the  summer  air. 
Still  the  bare  rocks  in  golden  lustre  shine, 
Still  bloom  the  barberry  and  the  columbine, 
As  when,  of  old,  on  many  a  "Lecture  day," 
Through  bush  and  swamp  he  took  his  winding  way, 
Toiled  the  long  afternoon,  then  homeward  steered, 
With  weary  feet  and  visage  berry-smeared."  3 

The  division  of  the  original  Cattle  Kange  or  Town  Pas- 
tures among  the  various  parishes  and  dependents  of  Salem 
is  one  of  the  most  important  chapters  in  her  local  history, 
although  it  has  received  little  attention.  The  witch  trials, 
which  occurred  only  a  few  years  before  the  passage  of 
Salem's  agrarian  laws,  have  quite  eclipsed  them  in  the 
popular  mind,  which  always  dwells  upon  the  phenomenal 
element  in  human  history  rather  than  upon  natural  and 
underlying  laws.  The  communal  spirit,  implanted  and 
fostered  in  the  parishes  of  Salem  by  the  acquisition  and  ad- 
ministration of  common  land,  was  of  more  vital  and 
enduring  consequence  in  the  history  of  that  town  than 
any  temporary  obscuration  of  the  common  sense,  chron- 
icled as  one  "dark  day."  Agrarian  laws,  or  the  admin- 
istration of  the  ager  publicus,  acquired  by  conquest, 
constitute  the  real  economic  history  of  Old  Rome,  and  we 
may  well  believe  that  the  long  conflict  between  the  Old 
Commoners,  or  Patricians,  with  the  Cottagers,  or  Plebe- 
ians, of  Salem  was  of  great  moment  in  the  upbuilding  of 
this  village  commonwealth.     The  grounds  of  the  conflict 

1  From  the  Rev.  Charles  T.  Brooks'  poem,  previously  mentioned. 


65 

were  as  deep-seated  as  the  aristocratic  class-distinctions 
of  Old  England,  which  are  felt  in  New  England  to  this 
day  ;  and  the  results  of  the  conflict  are  as  lasting  and 
potent  for  good  as  the  freehold  land  tenure,  which  in 
Salem,  as  elsewhere,  evolved  for  many  poor  cottagers,  or 
landless  inhabitants,  out  of  the  ancient  Town  Domain. 

In  a  former  chapter  it  has  been  shown  that  many  poor 
people,  workingmen,  servants,  and  fishermen,  were  re- 
ceived into  the  town  of  Salem  simply  as  inhabitants, 
oftentimes  with  the  right  of  building  a  cottage  upon  some 
bit  of  waste  land,  but  without  any  recognition  as  landed 
proprietors.  Some  of  these  poor  people  were  granted 
house-lots,  to  be  held  during  the  town's  pleasure.  These 
so-called  "cottage-rights"  were  akin  to  the  shanty-rights 
that  are  sometimes  temporarily  allowed  to  Irish  squatters 
along  the  lines  of  our  American  railways,  or  upon  the 
waste  and  unoccupied  land  of  our  towns  and  cities.  Such 
privileges,  when  accorded  by  any  real  authority,  were 
like  the  Old  English  cottage-rights,  whereby  poor  peasants 
were  allowed  to  build  a  hut  or  cottage  upon  the  lord's 
waste  land,  the  common  land  of  the  manor.  Upon  this 
waste,  the  peasants  usually  enjoyed  certain  rights  of  com- 
monage ;  for  example,  to  wood,  turf,  and  pasturage;  and 
they  often  cultivated  in  common  certain  portions  of  arable 
land  and  gathered  the  hay  from  certain  common  meadows, 
paying  their  lord  in  produce  or  in  base  services  for  the 
privilege  of  retaining  these  immemorial  customs.  In  the 
Middle  Ages,  such  tenants  were  variously  known  in  man- 
orial records  as  Coltagii,  Coterelli,  Cotlandarii,  Colerii, 
Bordarii,  Cotmanni,  any  one  of  which  terms  signifies 
much  the  same  as  Cottagers.4 


♦For  the  best  discussion  of  the  Knglish  Cottagers,  sec  Professor  William  F. 
Allen's  paper  on  "The  Rural  Classes  of  England,"  1,5,  8,  10,  11.  Cf.  Laveleye, 
"Primitive  Property,"  22,  '217. 


66 

Many  of  the  first  settlers  of  New  England  were,  in 
economic  respects,  akin  to  this  class  of  Cottagers.  More 
of  our  New  England  colonists  than  is  commonly  supposed 
belonged  in  Old  England  to  the  landless  class,  and,  like 
all  emigrants  since  the  world  began,  most  of  them  left 
their  native  country  in  order  to  improve  their  economic 
condition.  Many  of  these  English  emigrants  were  so 
poor  that  they  came  out  to  America  as  indented  servants, 
virtual  serfs,  until  they  could  work  out  their  freedom. 
By  an  express  order  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachu- 
setts, no  servant  could  have  any  land  allotted  him  until 
he  had  faithfully  completed  his  term  of  service  ;&  and,  in 
Salem,  men  who  had  yet  to  serve  were  absolutely  refused 
recognition  as  inhabitants  of  the  town.6  Of  this  class  of 
men,  who  were  the  slaves  of  English  capital,  Salem  un- 
doubtedly had  its  share.  The  Reverend  John  White,  in 
his  "  Planter's  Plea,"  speaks  of  three  hundred  colonists, 
"most  servants,"  who  were  sent  over  to  Salem  by  the 
Massachusetts  Company ;  and  Barry,  the  historian  of 
Massachusetts,  admits  that  there  were  originally  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  servants  sent  to  that  town.7 

In  Massachusetts,  stock  companies,  in  which,  by  the 
way,  the  governments  of  both  town  and  colony  originated, 
took  the  place  of  what,  in  Old  England,  had  been  a  feu- 
dal or  manorial  regime.  English  capital,  and  the  spirit 
of  corporate  association  for  economic  purposes,  were  fun- 
damental facts  in  the  colonization  and  local  upbuilding 
of  Massachusetts.  Although  landless  men  acquired  free- 
holds by  patient  industry  in  the  older  towns,  or  by  adoption 
into  westward  moving  companies,  yet,  in  the  beginning, 
these  men  had  a  struggle  for  existence  almost  as  hard  as 


6  Mass.  Col.  Records,  i,  127.  •  Town  Records  of  Salem,  i,  47. 

7  For  references,  see  chapter  on  the  "  Origin  of  Salem  Plantation." 


67 

that  of  poor  men  in  Ireland  to-day.  Undeniably  there 
was  an  aristocratic  aversion  on  the  part  of  our  thrifty 
Puritan  forefathers  against  granting  land  to  new  comers, 
unless  they  were  men  of  some  property.  This  feeling 
was  entirely  natural.  Our  forefathers  were  brought  up 
in  the  English  parishes,  and  they  regarded  with  contempt 
all  paupers  and  vagabonds.8  To  this  day  the  old  feeling 
survives  in  New  England,  and  a  poor  man  who  gets  any- 
thing out  of  one  of  our  towns  gets  it  by  the  hardest.  In 
Salem  and  in  the  first  Plantations  of  Massachusetts,  the 
poor  white  trash  of  the  period  had  greater  difficulties  to 
contend  with  than  it  did  originally  in  Virginia,  for  the 
communal  spirit,  intensified  by  the  Puritan  idea,  not  only 
forbade  dispersion  and  squatter  sovereignty,  but  wisely 
kept  the  control  of  the  commune  in  the  hands  of  good, 
substantial  citizens,  who  were  able  to  pay  taxes  and  help 
support  preaching. 

In  the  year  1GG0,  it  was  enacted  by  the  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts  that,  after  that  date,  no  cottage  or  mere 
dwelling  house,  except  such  as  were  already  in  existence' 
or  should  thereafter  be  erected  by  town  consent,  should 
be  admitted  to  the;  right  of  commonage,  which,  in  those 
times,  meant  chiefly  the  right  of  pasturing  town-land. 
This  Act,9  although  indicating  a  continuity  of  the  ancienl 
communal  spirit,  marks  nevertheless  the  lir.-t  important 
concession  to  the  plebeian  element  in  our  Massachusetts 
low  ns.  The  concession  was  as  necessary  as  it  was  impor- 
tant for  the  economic  evolution  of  the  original  narrow 
communes.  The  ranks  of  the  cottagers,  originally  land- 
less men,  but  now  in  many  eases  possessed  of  small  hold- 
ings by  thrift  and  purchase,  had  been  greatly  strengthened 

"  I'm'  an  curly  I  iv,  -  again >  l  VagalM-nd*  and  Trumps,  m  c  M;;.*  .Col.  Kcrord.-,  iv, 
Tail  .'.  13. 

"  Mass.  Col.  Uncords,  iv.  l'uit  I,  117. 


68 

by  the  so-called  "  New  Comers,"  a  wealthier  class  who  had 
pressed  into  the  village  communities  of  Massachusetts 
and  who,  by  reason  of  their  wealth,  had  obtained  lands, 
although  like  the  Cottagers  they  were  kept  out  of  any 
dividend  of  the  Commons.  Towards  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century  these  New  Comers  and  the  Cottagers, 
or  the  Nbvi  Homines  and  the  Plebs  of  our  New  England 
towns,  became  a  very  strong  party,  so  strong,  indeed,  in 
some  communities,  that  they  overthrew  the  patrician  ele- 
ment, or  the  descendants  of  the  Old  Comers,  and  carried 
town  meetings  by  revolutionary  storm.10 

In  the  year  1692,  the  General  Court,  still  under  the 
influence  of  the  patrician  party  in  the  towns,  determined 
to  allow  a  division  of  the  Common  Lands  "  by  the  major 
part  of  the  interested"  proprietors,  but  it  was  carefully 
enjoined,  as  in  1660,  that  "no  cottage  or  dwelling-place 
in  any  town  shall  be  admitted  to  the  privilege  of  common- 
age of  wood,  timber  and  herbage,  or  any  other  privileges 
which  lie  in  common  in  any  town  or  peculiar,  other  than 
such  as  were  erected  or  privileged  by  grant  before  the 
year  one  thousand  six  hundred  sixty-one,  or  that  have 
since,  or  shall  be  hereafter  granted."  This  Act11  of  1692 
is  the  real  point  of  departure  for  the  division  of  the  Salem 
Pastures  and  of  all  other  Common  Lands  in  Massachusetts. 
The  local  authorities  in  Salem  were  evidently  familiar 
enough  with  the  text  of  this  law,  for  it  is  frequently 
quoted  in  the  town  records,  and  the  town  clerk  speaks  of 
the  original  as  in  "Folio  23,  Province  Law  Book."  The 
Salem  town  records  which  cover  this  period   of  agrarian 


"The  histories  of  old  towns  like  Haverhill  and  Newbury  afford  a  striking 
commentary  on  that  agrarian  revolution  by  which  the  common  people  of  Massa- 
chusetts declared  their  independence  of  lordly  townsmen  in  the  commune  long  be- 
fore the  English  Colonies  in  America  threw.off  the  tyranny  of  a  privileged  class  of 
rulers. 

11  Acts  and  Resolves  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  i,  65. 


69 

agitation  have  not  yet  been  printed,  but  even  a  cursory 
examination  of  the  manuscript  volumes,  now  preserved  in 
the  oflice  of  the  city  clerk  of  Salem,  will  convince  the 
student  that  the  Land  Question  occupied  public  attention 
far  more  steadily  than  did  the  contemporary  question  of 
Witchcraft.  For  agrarian  communities,  the  chief  interests 
are  always  connected  with  the  use  of  the  soil,  just  as  for 
tisher-folk  the  chief  thought  is  always  concerning  the 
spoil  of  the  sea.  In  reading  the  town  records  of  Plym- 
outh or  of  Salem,  one  cannot  fail  to  perceive  that  the 
undercurrent  of  New  England  town-life,  however  broken 
the  surface,  is  one  steady  and  unceasing  drift  of  hard 
common  sense,  driven  on  by  the  resistless  pressure  of 
cumulating  majorities,  and  by  the  grinding  force  of  public 
necessity. 

The  pressure  upon  the  Old  Commoners  of  Salem  be- 
came so  strong  in  1702  that  they  voted,  agreeably  to  the 
colonial  law  of  ten  years  before,  that  all  persons  who  had 
cottage  right  previous  to  1661  should  be  classed  among 
the  "  proprietors"  of  Common  Lands.  It  was  also  voted, 
in  the  above  year,  for  the  benefit  of  the  New  Coiners,  or 
"  For  ye  Incouragement  &  Growth  of  this  Town  :  That 
all  Free-holders  of  this  Towne  vizt :  Every  one  yt  hath 
a  Dwelling  house  &  Land  of  his  own  proper  Estate  in  Fee 
Simple  Shall  h:ive  &  is  hereby  Admitted  unto  ye  privi- 
ledge  of  Commonage."  At  the  same  time  it  was  care- 
fully  provided  that  nothing  should  be  done  in  reference 
to  the  division,  stinting,  fencing,  or  disposal  of  the  Com- 
mons, unless  the  matter  be  brought  before  town  meeting 
"  in  an  orderly  way  by  ye  Selectmen  of  ye  Towne,  &  there 
Debated  &  Voted,  as  hath  been  usual  1."  It  is  important 
to  state  that  the  Old  Commoners  in  Salem  seem  to  have 
always  constituted  the  sovereign  element  in  town  meeting 
and   to  have   controlled    the  machinery  of  local  govern- 


70 

mcnt.  The  Novi  Homines  and  the  Plebs  never  really 
obtained  the  upper  hand  in  this  aristocratic  old  village 
republic.  All  agrarian  reforms  in  Salem  were  brought 
about  by  concession  on  the  part  of  the  patrician  element, 
and  not  through  popular  revolution.  The  town  fathers, 
or  the  heirs  of  Old  Comers,  slowly  yielded  to  the  wishes 
of  the  New  Comers,  and  thus  the  agrarian  commune  was 
gradually  widened  without  losing  its  aristocratic  and  sov- 
ereign character ;  for  newly  admitted  members  immedi- 
ately became  as  conservative  of  communal  rights  as  had 
been  their  more  favored  predecessors. 

In  1713,  a  meeting  of  Commoners  was  called  under 
warrant  from  a  justice  of  the  peace,  issued  in  due  form 
to  one  of  the  Proprietors.  This  meeting,  after  it  had 
been  duly  organized,  encountered  from  some  quarter  an 
obstructive  line  of  policy.  Complaint  was  made  because 
the  meeting  was  held  in  too  small  a  place  and  without 
sufficient  warning.  After  much  debate,  it  was  agreed  to 
make  present  proceedings  null  and  void  and  to  summon  a 
new  meeting.  A  fresh  warrant  was  issued  by  a  different 
justice  and  the  people  gathered  together  in  the  chief  meet- 
ing house  of  Salem.  A  moderator  and  a  clerk  were 
appointed  as  in  ordinary  town  meetings  (of  which  agra- 
rian meetings  were  probably  the  prototype),  and  a  com- 
mittee of  nine  was  chosen  to  receive  claims  to  the  Common 
Lands  of  Salem.  This  committee  was  instructed  to  re- 
ceive such  claims  as  were  authorized  by  the  town  vote 
of  1702  and  by  the  Province  law  of  1660.  The  com- 
mittee had  also  to  consider  what  should  be  done  for  those 
who  paid  heavy  taxes  (that  is,  for  the  patrician  element) 
and  what  for  those  who  had  no  claims  at  all. 

The  committee  posted  apublic  notice  upon  the  door  of 
the  Meeting  House,  warning  inhabitants  to  bring  in  their 
claims  to  shares  in  the  Common  Lands.     According  to 


71 

previous  instructions,  the  committee  proceeded  to  record 
applications  in  two  distinct  columns,  one  for  cottages 
erected  before  the  year  1061,  and  the  other  for  all  free- 
holders privileged  by  the  town  vote  of  1702.  Any  one 
studying  these  parallel  lists  will  notice  that  many  free- 
holders represent  also  certain  cottage  rights  established 
upon  their  own  farms  (as  upon  Old  English  manors),  and 
also  upon  the  Town  waste,  and  even  upon  the  Village 
Green.  For  example,  Colonel  John  Hathorne,  a  well-to- 
do  man  (whose  name  represents  the  famous  Hawthorne 
family)  claims  a  house  or  freehold  in  the  village,  also  a 
house  upon  his  farm,  and  two  cottage  rights  there.  Mr. 
Gedney's  name  stands  for  three  freeholds  and  for  six  cot- 
tage rights,  four  of  them  being  in  his  great  pasture  and 
one  upon  Antrum's  farm.  John  Pickering  (the  ancestor 
of  Washington's  Secretary  of  War)  represents  three  free- 
holds and  six  cottage  rights,  one  of  the  hitter  bein£  at 

Co7  O 

Glass  House  Fields,  and  another  in  South  Field  Point. 
Some  of  the  cottage  rights  were  in  North  Fields  and  some 
in  South  Fields.  One  cottage  right  was  in  the  "  Horse 
Pasture  ;"  another  on  "the  Towne  Common."1'-'  One  man, 
who  is  spoken  of  rather  disrespectfully  as  "Old  Nichols," 
had  a  cottage  near  the  Pound,  in  North  Fields.  The 
cottage  rights  are  usually  specified  by  the  name  of  some 
owner,  past  or  present;  and,  in  some  instances,  a  consid- 
erable number  of  rights  appear  to  have  been    massed  in 


13  In  early  times,  the  present  Town  Common  (Washington  Square]  of  Salem  ap- 
pcars  to  have  been  a  kind  of  Town  Waste.  People  wore  sometimes  allowed  to 
build  shanties  upon  it,  possibly  for  the  purpose  of  serving  refreshments  on 
Training  Days.  Portions  of  the  Common  were  leased  for  public  purposes  down  to 
the  year  1T7!<  (Felt,  ii,  15)7)  and  possibly  until  u  much  later  period,  for  the  custom 
continues  to  this  day  in  many  old  communities,  where  the  Selectmen  arc  empow- 
ered to  lease  Town  Land.  At  one  time,  theie  were  public  buildings  upon  the 
Common,  e.  g.,  a  school-house,  a  liie-ongine-hou.-e,  an  alms-house,  a  cuimon-homo, 
etc.  Churches  were  sometimes  built  upon  the  Town  Common  in  the  older  villages 
of  New  England. 

2 


72 

one  man's  hands,  indicating  possibly  that  cottage  rights, 
after  they  were  recognized  as  valuable,  were  bought  up 
by  rich  men,  as  were  Revolutionary  and  Pension  Claims 
in  after  times. 

In  1713,  the  same  year  in  which  the  town  of  Salem 
first  recognized  the  claims  of  her  Cottagers  and  all  Free- 
holders to  share  in  the  division  of  her  common  and  un- 
divided lands,  was  passed  that  vote  which  secured  forever 
for  public  use  the  old  Town  Common  or  Training  Field, 
the  beautiful  Washington  Square  of  to-day.  The  origin 
of  this  Common  is  coeval  with  the  origin  of  the  town,  for 
this  tract  was  part  of  the  oldest  Town  Land.  The  first 
distinct  reservation  of  Salem  Town  Common  was  in  1685, 
when  it  was  appointed  by  the  town  as  a  place  where  peo- 
ple might  shoot  at  a  mark.13  In  the  year  1713,  it  was 
voted,  "  That  the  common  lands  where  trainings  are  gen- 
erally kept,  before  Nathaniel  Higginson's  house,  be  and 
remain  as  it  now  lays  to  continue  forever  as  a  Training 
Field  for  the  use  of  the  said  town  of  Salem."14  Origi- 
nally Salem  Common  was  a  marshy  tract,  full  of  sedge 
and  brush.  "We  have  seen  the  men  who  have  cut  the 
flags  and  hoops  on  the  Common  and  had  rights  to  it,  till 
the  final  settlement  between  the  Cottagers  and  Common- 
ers in  1713, "15  says  an  old  resident  writing  in  1819.     The 


15  Felt,  Annals  of  Salem,  ii,  495. 

"MS.  Town  Records  of  Salem,  vol.  iii.  The  first  volume  of  the  Town  Records 
of  Salem,  1634-59,  has  been  published  by  the  Essex  Institute,  in  a  form  and  with  a 
literal  exactness  that  are  worthy  of  wide  imitation.  The  other  volumes,  which 
must  also  be  published  and  utilized  before  early  Salem  History  can  appear  to  the 
world  as  something  besides  Salem  Witchcraft,  are  preserved  in  the  vault  at  the 
office  of  the  City  Clerk.  The  second  volume  covers  the  period  from  1659  to  1680; 
the  third,  from  1680  to  1748;  and  the  fourth  from  1748  to  1775;  etc.  Little  concep- 
tion of  the  richness  of  these  unpublished  Town  Records  can  be  had  from  the  brief 
use  made  of  them  by  the  writer  of  this  monograph,  or  by  other  investigators  with 
only  special  points  of  interest  in  view. 

16  Quoted  from  Essex  Register,  of  August  4, 1819,  by  B.  F.  Browne,  Hist.  Coll. 
of  Essex  Inst.,  iv,  2. 


73 

surface  of  the  now  level  Common  was  for  a  longtime  very 
uneven,  with  numerous  hills  and  marshy  hollows,  and 
pools  of  standing  water.  The  tract  was  levelled  about 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  at  an  expense  of 
twenty-tive  hundred  dollars  ;  and,  in  honor  of  this  public 
improvement,  the  Selectmen,  in  1802,  ordered  the  Com- 
mon to  be  called  "  Washington  Square,"  but  the  old  name 
of  "The  Common"  is  still  retained  in  popular  use,  like 
the  name  of  "Boston  Common,"16  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  it  will  survive  forever,  as  an  open  record  of  the  orig- 
inal land  community  from  which  the  modern  city  has 
evolved. 

At  the  same  time  the  Town  Common  was  reserved,  it 
was  also  voted  that  all  highways,  burying  places,  and 
other  common  lands  lying  between  the  Town  Bridge  and 
the  Block  House,  should  remain  common  forever  for  the 
use  of  the  town.  Thus  were  secured  to  Salem  those  nec- 
essary communal  foundations  for  the  living  and  for  the 
dead,  for  the  present  and  the  future.  The  reservation 
of  land  for  cemeteries,  for  streets  and  sidewalks,  and  for 
all  public  open  spaces,  is  not  ordinarily  thought  of  as  a 
survival  of  the  principle  of  agrarian  community  in  the 
midst  of  individual  landed  property  which  now  seems  to 
prevail  almost  everywhere,  but  this  survival  is  none  the 
less  real  because  it  is  common  and  unnoticed. 

Before  proceeding  to  a  division  of  the  Common  Lands, 
the  Proprietors  made  still  further  reservations  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  community.  From  that  magnificent  town  pat- 
rimony of  four  thousand  acres  of  Commons,  sixty  acres 
were  now  granted  for  the  use  of  the  poor  "and  such  oth- 
ers as  are  Livers  in  the  Town  but  not  Privileged  to  a  Right 


18  An  nt tempt  was  once  made  t<>  change  the  name  of  "  Boston  Common"  into 
••  Washington  Park." 


74 

in  the  Common  Lands."  These  were  they  who  had  no 
claims.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  this  reservation 
for  the  poor  was  administered.  The  sixty  acres  were  ap- 
pointed for  a  cow  pasture,  three  acres  to  a  cow  right ;  and 
the  Selectmen  were  from  year  to  year  to  nominate  such 
poor  people  as  deserved  the  right  of  commonage.  Thus, 
it  should  be  observed,  there  was  no  premium  placed  on 
poverty,  for  only  "  such  as  have  a  cow  of  their  own  to 
keep  "  could  secure  the  right  of  common  pasture.  A  cot- 
tager who  owned  only  a  goat  or  a  pig  was  ruled  out  from 
town  bounty,  for  he  could  not  be  classed  with  his  betters 
who  owned  a  cow.  An  end,  however,  was  made  to  all 
possible  jealousy  of  Salem's  aristocratic  poor,  when,  in 
in  1834,  the  town  sold  the  pasture  for  six  hundred  dol- 
lars, and  thus  re-asserted  its  right  of  communal  domain. 
But,  by  this  time,  the  town  was  providing  for  its  poor  in 
a  more  excellent  way.  The  Town  Farm  had  now  taken 
the  place  of  the  old  Town  Pasture,  and  Winter  Island  was 
reserved  for  the  benefit  of  poor  fishermen,  who  could  there 
find  a  place  to  dry  their  fish.  But  a  rent  of  five  shillings 
per  annum  had  to  be  paid  to  the  town  for  the  use  of  Win- 
ter Island,17  thus  indicating  that  the  title  to  this  tract,  like 
the  right  to  the  reservation  for  the  poor,  was  still  vested 
in  the  town. 

Besides  the  reservations  for  the  poor,  for  the  Town 
Common,  and  for  other  public  purposes,  small  lots  were 
assigned  for  the  benefit  of  the  clergy  of  Salem.  In  Old 
England,  and  in  Southern  Colonies  like  Maryland  and  Vir- 

»  During  the  late  civil  war,  Winter  Island  was  given  over  to  the  United  States 
Government,  for  the  purpose  of  harbor-defence,  but  since  the  return  of  peace  Con- 
gress has  granted  the  use  of  the  Island  to  Plummer  Farm  School,  so  that  the  old 
locality  is  still  a  kind  of  public  agrarian  interest.  The  Neck  lands,  once  a  kind  of 
Home  Pasture  for  "  Riding  Horses,"  Milch  Cows,  etc.,  have  now  been  converted 
into  a  pleasure-ground  called  "The  Willows,"  where  cook-shops,  booths,  and 
merry-go-rounds  preserve  for  "  the  dear  old  Neck"  its  primitive  character  of  a 
Home  Pasture,  or  out-door  nursery,  for  Salem  children. 


75 

ginia,  such  reservations  would  have  been  called  Glebe 
Lands.  Ten  acres  were  granted  to  the  ministry  of  the 
First  Parish  of  Salem  ;  but  for  the  clergy  of  the  Second 
Parish  five  acres  were  considered  enough.  Five  acres 
were  also  allotted  to  the  pastor  of  the  Village  Precinct, 
afterwards  known  as  Dan  vers,  and  five  to  the  Middle  Pre- 
cinct, later  called  South  Dan  vers,  now  Peabody.  "The 
East  Parish  lot,"  says  Felt,  "was  sold  in  1832  for  $146. 
That  of  the  First  Parish  was  disposed  of  in  1819  for  $565. 
This  sum  was  added  to  the  fund  for  supporting  their 
ministry,  except  enough  of  its  income  to  purchase  twenty 
bushels  of  potatoes  annually  for  the  clergyman  then  their 
pastor,  which  had  been  the  amount  of  the  rent."18 

Including  these  Glebe  Lands  and  four  hundred  acres 
which  were  reserved  to  satisfy  incidental  claims,  for  ex- 
ample those  of  the  town  of  Lynn  in  the  boundary  dis- 
putes then  pending,  there  were  altogether  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Proprietors  something  over  four  thousand  acres, 
not  reckoning  abatements  made  on  account  of  the  quality 
of  the  land.  Upon  adding  up  the  claims,  there  were 
found  to  be  1,132  rights  to  commonage.  Of  these,  138 
rights  or  the  equivalent  of  460  acres,  belonged  to  the  in- 
habitants of  Salem  Village  and  "Ry  all's  Side,"  or  the 
North  Precinct;  204  rights  or  680  acres  belonged  to  the 
dwellers  in  the  Middle  Precinct;  and  75)0  rights,  or  2,(530 
acres,  to  the  Proprietors  of  the  body  of  the  town,  or  of 
the  two  lower  parishes  of  Salem  proper. 

In  the  year  1722-3,  the  Commons  of  Salem  were  di- 
vided between  the  claimants,  according  as  they  happened 
to  be  grouped  in  the  above  named  local  precincts.  To 
Salem  Village  and  Myall's  Side"  was  granted  all  the  Coni- 

'•Felt,  Annuls  of  Salem,  i,  100. 

'•The  Records  of  Ihc  Proprietors  of  Salem  Village  and  Uyall's  Side  from  lTiiU-UO 
arc  ftill  in  existence. 


76 

mon  Land  beyond  Ipswich  River.  The  Middle  Precinct 
received  the  Commons  lying  in  that  neighborhood.  The 
body  of  the  town  of  Salem  retained  the  Common  Lands 
lying  on  the  south  side  of  a  line  drawn  from  the  north- 
east end  of  Spring  Pond,  beginning  at  a  run  of  water 
there,  thence  easterly  to  so-called  Tylly's  Corner,  then 
back  of  the  Glass  House  Fields  and  down  the  plains  to 
the  house  formerly  owned  by  Humphrey  Case,  and  so  on 
to  Norton's  house  and  the  Town  Bridge,  which  entire  cir- 
cuit embraced  the  greater  part  of  the  Commons,  or  over 
2,500  acres,  besides  the  so-called  "Flint's  Pasture." 

After  this  grand  division  of  communal  property,  a  new 
board  of  Commoners  was  instituted  for  each  precinct,  and 
the  same  old  system  of  corporate  administration  of  com- 
mon property  went  on  unchecked,  and  with  the  old  spirit 
of  aristocratic  exclusiveness  as  regards  all  New  Comers. 
The  above  division  not  only  gave  greater  strength  to  all 
freeholders  and  cottagers  in  the  community,  but  it  fur- 
nished an  economic  basis  for  two  new  towns,  besides  va- 
rious parishes.  The  old  system  of  agrarian  community 
has  died  out  in  the  younger  towns  which  branched  off 
from  Salem,  but  in  the  mother- town  it  has  been  perpetu- 
ated down  to  the  present  day. 

The  history  of  the  gradual  curtailment  of  the  Great 
Pastures  of  Salem,  from  their  original  extent  of  2,500 
acres,  at  the  time  of  the  above  distribution,  to  their  pres- 
ent comparatively  narrow  limits  of  300  acres,  does  not 
fall  within  the  scope  of  this  monograph,  which  is  less  con- 
cerned with  purely  topographical  details  than  with  the 
origin  and  continuity  in  Salem  of  an  archaic  system  of 
which  the  Great  Pastures  are  a  curious  survival.  Every 
year  since  the  above  division,  the  Proprietors  of  the 
Great  Pastures  have  met,  elected  a  moderator,  listened  to 
the  report  of  the  clerk,  and  have  passed  their  customary 


77 

orders  concerning  the  "  stinting"  of  pasturage.  The  com- 
mon domain,  like  the  board  of  Commoners,  has  been 
gradually  shrinking  up,  as  did  the  Roman  Senate  and  the 
dominions  of  Rome.  The  heirs  of  the  original  Proprie- 
tors, the  decuriones  of  Salem,  have  been  gradually  dying 
oil'  or  selling  out  their  rights  to  others.  Farm  after  farm 
has  been  set  off  by  vote  of  the  Commoners  to  those  who 
desired  individual  possession  of  their  rights.  Piece  by 
piece  the  old  Commons  have  been  parcelled  out  into  indi- 
vidual holdings  ;  but  still,  down  to  the  very  present,  a 
remnant  of  the  once  Great  Pastures  has  been  preserved. 
The  actual  quantity  of  land  is  of  little  significance  com- 
pared with  the  fact  that  for  nearly  three  centuries  this  old 
system  of  commonage  has  remained  practically  the  same 
in  the  town  of  Salem.  The  writer  has  examined,  at  the 
house  of  Dr.  Henry  Wheatland,  the  present  Commoner's 
clerk,  the  original  records,  which  are  remarkably  com- 
plete, and  he  finds  that  a  vote  recorded  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  differs  very  slightly 
in  substance  from  votes  passed  throughout  the  seven- 
teenth century.  The  charm  of  novelty  should  not  be 
expected  in  a  system  which  has  its  chief  interest  in  the 
fact  of  endurance  without  a  change  tor  more  than  a 
thousand  years  in  Old  England  before  the  English  thought 
of  conquering  for  themselves  a  New  England. 

And  here,  in  passing,  let  us  notice  one  illustration  of 
the  survival  of  archaic  custom  in  the  method  of  conveying 
land  in  early  Salem  "by  turtle  and  twigg,"  which  is  men- 
tioned by  Palgrave  as  a  Saxon  form,  to  which  later  deeds 
and  records  were  only  collateral.  This  singular  custom, 
not  unknown  among  ruder  peoples  than  the  Saxons,  was 
kept  up  in  the  rural  parishes  of  old  England  and  was 
thence  directly   transmitted    by  the    Puritan    Fathers    to 


78 

these  New  England  shores,  where  it  long  survived  in  the 
towns  of  Essex  county,  which  after  all  was  but  a  colony 
of  modern  East  Saxons,  with  a  North-folk  and  a  South- 
folk,  for  county  neighbors,  though  without  a  Wessex. 
What  links  in  history  are  these  old  county  names  and 
local  customs !  What  an  iron  grip  upon  early  English 
precedent  was  that  in  1695  when  John  Rusk  of  Salem,  in 
the  presence  of  two  witnesses,  took  a  twig  from  a  growing 
tree  and  a  piece  of  green  turf,,  both  upon  his  own  land, 
and  said,  "  Here,  son  Thomas,  I  do,  before  these  two  men, 
give  you  possession  of  this  land  by  turffe  and  tvvigg !" 

The  right  of  alienating  shares  in  the  Great  Pastures 
by  deed  was  very  early  provided  for  by  the  old  commoners 
of  Salem.  In  1732  a  committee  of  nine  men  was  appoint- 
ed to  measure,  lay  out,  and  convey  lots  from  the  common 
domain.  Lots  large  enough  for  building  purposes  were 
thus  frequently  sold  off  by  vote  of  the  majority  of  com- 
moners, who  divided  the  proceeds.  Individual  rights 
were  conveyed  by  deed,  signed  by  the  Committee  in  the 
name  of  the  Proprietary.  There  are  several  such  deeds 
in  the  town  records,  e.  g.,  vol.  iii,  under  the  dates, 
December  25,  1732  ;  June  26,  1733  ;  September  19,  1738. 
The  above  committee  also  compounded  with  persons  who 
had  encroached  upon  the  Commons ;  for  example,  a  man 
who  had  built  a  shop  upon  common  land,  was  allowed  to 
remain  by  paying  thirty-five  shillings  per  rod  for  the 
ground  occupied. 

From  the  open  air  meetings  of  Saxon  townsmen  delib- 
erating as  to  when  and  how  they  should  plant,  harvest 
and  pasture  their  Common  Fields,  it  is  but  a  single  step 
in  history  to  the  Court  Leet,  or  popular  assembly  of 
tenants,  upon  the  manorial  estate  of  an  English  lord,  or 
of  a  Maryland  proprietor.     It  is  but  another  step  in  his- 


79 

tory  from  these  popular  assemblies  to  the  modern  lawn 
meeting  in  Sir  Walter's  Park,  whither  Hocked 

"  His  tenants,  wife  and  child,  and  half 

The  neighboring  borough  with  the  Institute 

Of  which  he  was  the  patron  " —  Tennyson's  "  Princess." 

From  the  Field  Meetings  of  English  Institutes,  the  tran- 
sition is  easy  to  a  Field  Meeting20  of  the  Essex  Institute. 
Here,  as  the  English  poet  sings,  all  the  sloping  pasture 
seems  to  murmur,  sown  with  happy  faces  and  with  holiday, 
and  here,  too,  as  in  Sir  Walter's  Park,  sport  goes  hand 
in  hand  with  science. 

ADDENDUM. 

The  following  communication,  made  to  the  Salem 
Gazette,  August  16,  1881,  by  Mr.  II.  F.  Waters,  a  well 
known  antiquary  of  Salem,  is  valuable  for  its  items  of 
historical  interest  and  for  its  exact  transcription  of  votes 
from  the  original  Town  Records  : 

Messrs.  Editors:  In  connection  with  the  paper  of  Mr. 
Adams,  at  the  Institute  meeting,  the  following  "votes" 
from  our  old  town  records  may  not  be  uninteresting. 
Additional  information  is  given  in  the  Report,  prepared 
some  years  ago  by  Judge  Endicott,  then  City  Solicitor, 
upon  the  Neck  lands.  The  "Blockhouse"  stood  about  on 
the  site  of  the  late  pound  at  the  head  of  the  Neck,  and 
the  land  shore  was  known   as   the  "  Blockhouse  Field " 


10  So-called  ''Field  Meetings"  for  the  regulation  of  Common  Lands,  used  to  be 
held  in  Connecticut,  see  Lambert,  New  Haven,  96-7,  and  of  necessity  must  have 
existed  in  the  "  Perambulation"  and  "Division"  of  Salem  Commons,  to  .-ay  noth- 
ing of  the  associate  planting  and  harvesting  of  Common  Fields.  Hut  the  Field 
Meetings  of  the  Essex  Institute  are  not  the  direct  continuation  of  the  earlier 
Salem  institution,  although  they  are,  perhaps,  the  outgrowth  of  the  same  original 
idea;  for  the  Field  Meetings  of  English  scientific  societies,  which  suggested  the 
Field  Meetings  of  the  Essex  Institute  (see  Bulletin  of  the  latter,  i  89),  are  them- 
selves the  cultivated  product  of  the  old  English  instinct  for  open  air  assemblies. 
The  name  Field  Meeting,  actually  surviving  in  its  original  sense  in  this  country, 
If  not  also  in  England,  is  sufficient  proof  of  this  view. 


80 

into  this  century.     It  belonged  to  the  heirs  of  Benjamin 
Ives,  who  sold  it  to  their  kinsman  Richard  Derby. 

As  to  the  acres  "  sett  a  Part "  for  the  use  of  the  ministry 
.  .  .  for  pasturage,, this  privilege  seems  to  have  been 
commuted  later  for  a  money  payment,  as  Dr.  Bentley 
records  being  waited  upon  by  a  farmer  from  Danvers,  who 
brought  him  rent  for  the  use  of  the  "Minister's  Field," 
much  to  the  good  divine's  surprise,  as  he  had  previously 
known  of  no  such  perquisite. 

"  Att  a  Meeting  of  the  Proprietors  of  the  Lands  lying  in  Comon  In 
the  Town  of  Salem,  held  at  the  Meeting-house  in  the  first  Parrish  In 
Salem  November  the  Twenty-Second  Day  one  Thousand  Seaven  Hun- 
dred and  Fouerteen  being  Legally  warned 

Voated  That  Coll'o  Samuell  Browne  Esq'r  is  Chosen  Moderator  for 
the  Meeting. 

Voated  That  the  Returne  of  the  Committe  who  were  Appointed  to 
Receive  the  Claims  to  the  Comon  Lands  In  Salem  as  Itt  is  entred  on 
the  other  Leafe  Backward  is  Received  allowed  and  approved. 

Voated  That  whereas  there  are  Severall  Claims  nott  yett  ffully  made 
out  to  thee  Committee,  and  others  who  have  Neglected  to  bring  in 
their  Claimes  :  Therefor  for  Compleating  the  same  That  the  Proprietors 
doe  grant  further  Liberty  to  the  Committee  for  fouer  or  five  months 
next  Comeing  to  Receive  &  Enter  all  such  further  Rights  and  Claimes 
as  any  person  may  have  to  make  that  none  may  be  excluded  that  have 
Right  and  that  Notifications  be  by  them  Accordingly  Posted  up  in  the 
most  Publick  Places  in  the  three  several  Parrishes  of  the  time  and 
place  of  the  Committee's  Meetings. 

Voated  That  there  be  sixty  Acres  Granted  for  the  use  of  the  Poor 
of  this  Town  and  such  others  as  are  Livers,  in  the  Town  but  not 
Privileged  to  A  Right  in  the  Comon  Lands  and  the  same  to  be  for  a 
Cow  Pasture :  To  be  allowed  Three  Acres  to  A  Cow  the  selectmen 
from  year  to  year  to  Propose  and  allow  the  persons  so  to  be  Priviledged 
and  they  are  to  be  such  as  have  a  cow  of  their  own  to  keep. 

Voated  That  Winter  Island  be  wholly  Reserved  and  Granted  for  the 
Use  of  the  Fishery,  and  such  shoremen  as  Dry  fish  there  who  live  in 
the  Town  that  pay  an  acknowledgment  or  Rent  of  five  shillings  per 
annum  for  a  Room  to  dry  ffish  for  a  fflshing  vessell  and  such  as  live  in 
other  Towns  who  come  and  dry  ffish  there  shall  pay  an  acknowledg- 
ment or  Rent  of  Twenty  Shillings  per  annum  for  a  fish  room  for  each 
vessell :  To  be  lett  by  the  Selectmen  of  the  Town  of  Salem  yearly  and 


81 

and  the  rents  to  be  pd  into  the  Town  Treasurer  for  the  use  of  the 
Town :  the  Hirers  to  fence  in  the  same  att  their  own  charge. 

Voated  That  the  Neck  of  Land  to  the  Eastward  Part  of  the  Block- 
houses be  Granted  and  Reserved  for  the  use  of  the  Town  of  Salem  for 
a  Pasture  for  Milch  Cows  and  Rideing  Horses,  to  be  fenced  at  the 
Townes  charge  and  lett  out  yearly  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Town  by 
the  Selectmen,  and  no  one  Person  be  admitted  to  put  into  said  Pasture 
in  a  stfrner  more  than  one  milch  Cow  or  one  Rideing  Horse,  and  the 
whole  number  not  to  exceed  Two  Acres  and  a  half  to  a  Cow  and  fouer 
Acres  to  a  Hors,  the  Rent  to  be  paid  into  the  Town  Treasurer  for  the 
Time  being  for  the  use  of  thee  Town  of  Salem. 

Voated  That  there  be  Tenn  acres  of  the  Comon  Lands  sett  a  Part 
and  Reserved  for  the  use  of  the  Ministry  in  the  body  of  the  Town  for 
Pasturage,  and  five  Acres  more  for  the  Village  Precinct  Ministry  and 
five  acres  more  for  the  Middle  Precinct  Ministry  in  suiteable  and  con- 
venient places  for  them. 

Voated  That  there  be  about  Fouer  Hundred  Acres  on  the  moste 
remote  part  of  the  Town  towards  or  on  the  west  end  of  Dogg  Pond 
Rocks  and  Hills  adjoining  to  Linn  Line  where  there  may  be  Last 
Damage  to  the  known  Proprietors  to  be  Reserved  for  any  such  as  may 
come  and  make  out  any  Right  or  Claime  after  the  first  day  of  June 
next  ensuing. 

Voated  That  all  Dwelling  Houses  built  in  thee  Town  of  Salem  since 
the  year  one  Thousand  Seaven  Hundred  and  Two  to  this  day  being 
the  L'2d  day  of  November  1714  Bee  and  hereby  are  admitted  to  and 
allowed  a  Right  in  the  Comon  Lands  in  Salem. 

Voated  That  all  the  Comon  Lands  in  Salem  not  otherwise  disposed 
off  bee  measured  by  an  Artist  and  Returned  to  the  Committee  who 
are  desired  to  gett  the  same  done. 

Voated  That  the  said  Comon  Lands  be  ffenced,  ami  stinted  or 
divided  to  and  amongst  the  Proprietors  of  said  Comon  Lands  in  Pro- 
portion to  their  Rights  and  According  to  Quality  as  neer  as  may  bee 
that  have  or  shall  make  out  their  Rights  before  the  first  day  of  June 
Next  ensuing  as  hereafter  may  be  agreed  on  by  the  major  part  of  the 
Propriety. 

Voated  That  the  Committee  who  were  Chozen  to  Receive  the 
Claimes  to  the  Comon  Lands  or  the  major  part  of  them  are  ordered 
and  Iinpowercd  to  Sell  and  dispose  of  some  small  Pieces  and  Stripe 
of  the  Comon  Lands  in  this  Town  of  Salem  as  may  be  suffltient  to 
defray  the  Necessary  Kxpences  of  the  Committees  and  the  charge  of 
measuring  the  saide  Comon  Lands." 


XI 


THE 


GENESIS 


NEW  ENGLAND  STATE 


CONNECTICUT) 


"There  was  only  one  thing  dearer  to  him  [the  New  Englander]  than  his  township 
—  his  hearth.  The  'town'  was  as  ancient  as  the  neighborhood,  and  older  than  the 
county;  his  great-grandson  knows  that  it  is  much  older  than  the  State,  or  the  Union 
of  the  States.—  E.  G.  Scotl. 

"In  this  part  of  the  Union  [New  England]  the  impulsion  of  political  activity  was 
given  in  the  townships;  and  it  may  almost  be  said  that  each  of  them  originally  formed 
an  independent  nation.  It  is  important  to  remember  that  they  have  not  been  invested 
with  privileges,  but  that  they  seem,  on  the  contrary,  to  have  surrendered  a  portion  of 
their  independence  to  the  State."—  De  Tocquevilte,  (Reeve's  Trans.). 

"Each  New  England  State  may  be  described  as  a  confederacy  of  minor  republics 
called  towns." — Palfrey. 

"  The  inhabited  part  of  Massachusetts  was  recognized  as  divided  into  little  territo- 
ries, each  of  which,  for  its  internal  purposes,  constituted  a  separate  integral  govern- 
ment, free  from  supervision." — Bancroft. 

0  inatrt  pnlrfcra  filia  pnlcfcriorl 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

I  N 

Historical   and   Political   Science 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 


History  i.i  past  Politics  untl  Politics  present   History.  —  Freeman 


XI 


T  II  E 


GENESIS 

OF     A 

NEW  ENGLAND  STATE 

(CONNECTICUT) 

Head  before  the  Historical  and  Political  Science  Association,  April  13,  ISS3 

BY  ALEXANDER  JOHNSTON,  A.  M. 


k  a  i.  i  I  m  o  it  i: 

I'Ciii.Isiikd  nv  TlIK  .!•  iin-   Hopkins  I'nivkksit* 
SKI'TKM  III;  It,    1883. 


JOHN  MURPHY  A  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


THE 


GENESIS  OF  A  NEW  ENGLAND  STATE 


ICONNKCTICUTi 


In  the  new  interest  which  has  sprung  up  of  late  years  in 
the  institutional  history  of  the  United  States,  it  is  a  little 
strange  that  the  territorial  forms  and  features,  the  bodies,  of 
the  States  themselves  are  usually  left  so  far  out  of  account. 
It  may  be  that  this  neglect  has  come  from  their  comparative 
constancy  of  outline.  It  is  easy  to  trace  most  of  the  internal 
workings  of  the  State  to  the  town  system  or  its  equivalents, 
and  to  accept  them  as  a  purely  natural  outgrowth.  But  it  is 
just  as  easy  to  see  that  the  external  outline  of  New  York, 
Illinois,  or  Texas  has,  from  a  very  early  period,  been  much 
the  same  as  at  present,  and  to  accept  it  as  artificial,  as  imposed 
on  the  State  spirit  by  some  superior  power. 

And  it  must  be  confessed  that  this  distinction  holds  good 
as  a  general  rule.  Each  of  our  States  has  had,  throughout 
its  history,  a  remarkable  uniformity  of  feature.  There  is 
comparatively  little  of  that  breaking  up  and  reuniting,  that 
shooting  out  of  a  crystal  here,  or  disappearance  of  a  limb 
there,  which  gives  the  idea  of  natural  growth  in  a  French 
kingdom,  while  it  makes  it  difficult  to  say  just  where  the 
growth  took  permanent  shape.  Our  States,  we  might  almost 
say,  came  into  the  world  full  grown,  like  Minerva.  Even 
the  Massachusetts  towns,  the  accepted  exemplars  of  their  class, 
found  their  Commonwealth  boundaries  waiting  lor  them  when 
they  came  into  existence,  and  conformed  to  them.  In  the 
original  States  there  is  usuallv  a  certain  sequence  of  events: 

6 


6  The  Genesis  of  a 

a  grant  of  territory  by  the  King  to  a  great  mercantile  com- 
pany or  court  favorite;  a  subsidiary,  or  an  entirely  new,  grant 
to  actual  colonizers;  and  the  location  of  the  colony  with  fairly, 
if  clumsily,  defined  boundaries,  which  have  continued  sub- 
stantially the  same  down  to  our  own  day.  In  the  States 
subsequently  formed  there  is  a  quite  parallel  sequence  of 
events:  the  acquisition  of  jurisdiction  by  the  nation;  the 
establishment  of  territorial  boundaries  by  Congress;  and  the 
erection  of  a  State  within  the  external  limitations  already 
imposed.  Of  course,  the  general  idea  will  not  bear  minute 
examination :  all  the  States  have  had  their  variations  of 
outline,  some  of  them  pregnant  with  significance;  and  the 
historical  geography  of  the  United  States  is  a  field  where 
some  worker  will  yet  find  a  rich  and  virgin  soil.  Neverthe- 
less it  remains  true  that  the  individuality  of  the  future  State 
is  sufficiently  constant  from  its  first  connection  with  human 
interest,  history  and  government  to  give  good  reason  for  con- 
sidering it  in  the  beginning  as  a  human  creation  rather  than 
a  natural  growth. 

We  look,  then,  as  a  general  rule,  to  the  will  of  the  gov- 
erning power- of  a  colony  for  the  body,  the  territorial  form, 
of  a  township,  while  we  look  to  the  Germanic  heredity  of  the 
people  for  its  spirit;  we  look  to  the  town  spirit  for  the  spirit 
of  the  future  State,  and  to  the  will  of  a  King  or  of  a  Congress 
for  its  body,  its  territorial  form  and  boundaries.  It  is  the 
purpose  of  this  article  to  direct  attention  to  one  of  the  few 
exceptions  to  this  general  rule,  the  present  State  of  Connec- 
ticut,* a  State  which  was  born,  not  made,  which  grew  by 
natural  accretion  of  townships,  which  formed  its  own  govern- 
ment, made  its  own  laws,  engaged  in  its  own  alliances,  fought 


*  Rhode  Island  and  Vermont  are  the  other  exceptions,  and  as  well 
deserve  examination.  "We  can  hardly  include  Plymouth  among  the 
exceptions,  for  that  colony  only  claimed  individuality  by  charter  pur- 
chase ;  nor  Texas,  whose  admission  to  the  Union  was  a  flagrant  violation 
of  every  precedent  of  State  origin. 


New  England  State  [Connecticut.)  7 

its  own  wars,  and  built  up  its  own  body,  without  the  will  of 
King,  Kaiser,  or  Congress,  and  which,  even  at  the  last,  only 
made  use  of  the  royal  authority  to  complete  the  symmetry  of 
the  boundaries  it  had  fairly  won  for  itself.* 

Territorial  Claims. 

The  accepted  story  of  the  transmission  of  the  title  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  Connecticut  is  very  simple.  The  soil  was  a 
part  of  James  I.'s  grant  to  the  Council  of  Plymouth;  a  part 
of  the  smaller  grant  to  the  Karl  of  Warwick  in  lrj.'iO  by  the 
Council  of  Plymouth  ;  a  part  of  the  still  smaller  grant  to 
Viscount  Say  and  Sele,  Lord  Brooke,  and  others  in  1631  by 
Warwick  ;  and  the  territory,  as  it  now  stands,  was  confirmed 
to  the  colony  of  Connecticut  by  Charles  II. 's  charter  of  1602, 
with  the  consent  of  the  survivors  of  the  last  named  grantees. 
Minor  difficulties,  such  as  Fenwick's  troublesome  claim  under 
the  Say  grant,  were  bought  off  by  the  colony;  the  Indian 
possessory  title  was  extinguished  by  purchase  and  conquest, 
and  the  colony's  chain  of  title  to  its  own  territory  seemed  to 
be  without  a  weak  link.  In  that  case,  there  Mould  have  been 
nothing  out  of  the  ordinary  in   the  Connecticut  colony,  and 


*  Authorities  in  Gknkral:  Trumbull's  Colo/iial  Records  of  Connec- 
ticut; Houd  ley's  Colonial  Records  of  New  Haven;  IJowen's  Boundary 
Disputes  of  Connecticut;  Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut ;  Hollister's 
History  of  Connecticut;  Dwight's  History  of  Connecticut  :  Peters'  General 
History  of  Connecticut  (MeCormick's  reprint  of  1877);  At  water'-  Colo- 
nial History  of  New  Haven;  Bacon's  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut ; 
Fowler's  Local  Law  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut ;  Savage's  Winthrop's 
New  England;  Brotlbeiid's  History  of  New  York;  OVallnghtm's  History 
of  New  Netherland;  Thompson's  History  of  Long  Island;  Wood's  First 
Towns  of  Long  Island;  Holland's  History  of  Western  Massachusetts; 
Hartley's  Hartford  in  the  Olden  Time;  Stiles's  History  of  Ancient  Wind- 
sor; Hull's  History  of  Norwalk ;  Huntington's  History  of  Stamford: 
Cnulkins's  History  of  New  London:  Mead's  History  of  Greenwich; 
Howell's  Early  History  of  Southampton,  I,.  I.:  H<md'>  History  of  Water- 
town,  Mass.  Kefcrcnccs  are  made  tu  the  author's  name,  except  in  the 
ease  of  records. 


8  The  Genesis  of  a 

the  formation  of  its  territorial  body  would  have  followed  the 
general  rule. 

But  there  was  a  weak  link,  or  rather  a  non-existent  link, 
the  grant  to  "Warwick :  he  who  looks  for  it  will  look  in  vain. 
Trumbull  and  D wight*  assume  that  the  Say  and  Sele  grant 
was  really  from  the  Council  of  Plymouth,  of  which  Warwick 
was  the  President;  but  the  Say  and  Sele  grantf  is,  by  its 
terms,  from  Warwick  personally,  and  the  Council  of  Plymouth 
is  not  even  named  in  it.  Hollister|  takes  a  much  more  ten- 
able ground  :  he  admits  that  no  trace  can  be  found  of  a  grant 
to  Warwick,  but  assumes  that  such  a  grant  must  have  been 
made,  since  Warwick  would  not  otherwise  have  ventured  to 
make  the  Say  and  Sele  grant.  Peters  §  scouts  the  notion  of 
a  grant  to  Warwick,  and  taunts  the  colonial  government  with 
its  inability  to  show  any  original  title.  Bancroft  ||  and  other 
general  authorities  state  the  grant  to  Warwick  without  noting 
any  doubt  as  to  its  validity,  and  it  is  generally  accepted 
without  question  as  the  basis  of  Connecticut's  territorial 
claims,  subsequently  confirmed  by  the  charter. 

On  the  other  hand,  not  only  is  it  evident  that  the  original 
settlement  of  Connecticut  was  legally  a  sheer  intrusion,  in 
absolute  disregard  of  the  paper  title  on  which  it  afterwards 
professed  to  rely,  but  the  Plymouth  Council  itself  did  not 
recognize  the  Warwick  grant,  or  the  claims  of  the  Say  and 
Sele  associates  under  it.     On  the  contrary,  when  it  divided 


*1  Trumbull,  27;  Dwight,  cap.  1. 

fit  is  given  in  1  Trumbull,  495. 

%  1  Hollister,  20. 

\  Peters,  11.  "The  Governor  and  Company  of  Connecticut  gave  a 
formal  answer,  setting  up  a  title  under  the  Earl  of  "Warwick,  who,  they 
said,  disposed  of  the  land  to  Lord  Say  and  Sele  and  Lord  Brooke,  and 
the  Lords  Say  and  Brooke  sold  the  same  to  Fenwick,  Peters,  and  others. 
The  Earl  of  Arran  answered  that,  when  they  produced  a  grant  from  the 
Plymouth  Company  of  those  lands  to  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  it  should  have 
an  answer.     But  the  colony  was  silent." 

J)  1  Bancroft's  United  States,  395. 


New  England  Slate  (Connecticut.)  9 

the  remaining  property  in  the  soil  among  its  members  in 
1035,  before  surrendering  the  jurisdiction  to  the  King,  it 
granted  the  territory  between  the  Narragansett  and  Connec- 
ticut rivers  to  the  royalist  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  and  recorded 
the  grant.  This  was  the  only  Connecticut  grant,  up  to  the 
charter,  which  came  from  a  source  having  an  ostensible  power 
to  grant,  and  it  became  obsolete  by  non-user,  since  the  royalist 
patentee  was  unable  to  make  any  attempt  to  colonize  under  it 
until  colonization  was  completed  without  his  assistance.*  On 
the  other  side  of  Long  Island  Sound  lay  the  fine'  territory  of 
Long  Island.  This  was  covered  by  a  royal  grant  to  the  Earl 
of  Stirling  in  1635;  but  the  grantee  made  no  attempt  to 
assert  any  rights  of  jurisdiction,  and  his  grantees  had  at  first 
as  open  opportunity  as  the  settlers  on  the  mainland  to  erect 
independent  town  republics. f 

The  nearest  approach  to  the  truth  seems  to  be  that  an 
informal,  and  consequently  invalid,  grant  of  some  kind  was 
made  to  Warwick,  and  that  the  original  colonists,  in  their 
subsequent  search  for  a  paper  title,  took  this  as  the  best  one 
available  to  them,  though  they  had  never  respected  it  in 
practice.  They  were  in  no  position  to  feel  or  assert  any  pride 
in  that  which  makes  their  colonization  noteworthy,  the  absence 
of  an  original  patent.  They  would  have  asserted  the  Ham- 
ilton patent  with  equal  warmth,  if  it  had  offered  superior 
advantages;  they  chose  the  Warwick  title  because  Say  in 
10(52,  while  he  was  a  republican,  was  yet  a  man  of  influence 
with  the  King,  because  he  was  a  friend  to  New  Englanders 
and  disposed  to  assist  any  New  England  colony,  and  because 
lie,  the  only  surviving  patentee,  was  too  rich  to  care  for  (put 
rente  and  too  old  to  be  a  dangerous  ally.     The  truth  is,  that 


*  Tin'  Hamilton  heirs,  in  1683  and  subsequent  years,  sued  for  a  recovery 
of  their  alleged  rights  in  the  soil,  l>ut  their  suit  was  denied  for  the  reason 
that  it  would  he  unjust  to  disturb  lont;  -'tiled  titles,  in  id  to  give  the  heirs 
tin'  benefit  of  the  colonists'  improvements.     See  I   TrumhnUt  .'JOU. 

■j-  T/ujmjiton,  117;    1  Q'CaUaghany  210,  U15;    Wood,  0,  20. 
o 


]  0  The  Genesis  of  a 

the  colonization  and  organization  of  Connecticut  took  place 
without  the  remotest  connection  with  any  paper  title  what- 
ever, and  that  the  Warwick  title  was  purely  an  after  thought 
to  bolster  up,  by  the  forms  of  English  law,  the  really  better 
title  of  the  colonists,  acquired  by  their  own  purchases,  con- 
quests, and  colonization.  For  the  purposes  of  this  article  the 
Warwick  and  Say  titles  may  be  dismissed  as  practically  both 
non-existent. 

In  1634,  then,  the  territory  now  occupied  by  Connecticut 
was  a  veritable  No-Man's-Land.  It  had  been  granted,  indeed, 
to  the  Plymouth  Council,  but  the  grant  stood  much  on  a  par 
with  a  presentation  of  a  bear  skin  whose  natural  owner  was 
still  at  large  in  the  forest.  On  the  north,  the  Massachusetts 
boundary  line  had  been  defined  by  charter,  though  its  exact 
location,  in  its  whole  length,  was  still  in  the  air;  on  the  east, 
the  Plymouth  purchase  boundary  was  in  the  same  condition  ; 
on  the  west,  the  asserted  Dutch  boundary  of  New  Netherlands 
was  in  the  same  condition.  The  debatable  ground  between 
these  unsettled  boundaries  offered  one  of  the  few  opportuni- 
ties which  the  town  system  has  had  to  show  how  it  can  build 
up  the  body,  as  well  as  provide  the  spirit,  for  a  State.  A 
brief  sketch  of  the  manner  in  which  the  work  was  done  will 
show  that  the  towns,  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the  colonists' 
natures,  formed  their  own  colonial  governments,  pushed  back 
the  asserted  boundaries  of  their  neighbors,  and  obtained  for 
themselves  a  local  habitation  and  a  name  among  common- 
wealths long  before  the  King  added  the  sanction  of  his  royal 
assent  to  a  work  which  had  already  been  accomplished  with- 
out it. 

Colonization. 

Movement  toward  the  vacant  territory  fairly  began  in  1633. 
In  that  year  the  Dutch  established  a  trading  house  where 
Hartford  now  stands;  William  Holmes,  a  Plymouth  skipper, 
sailed  up  the  Connecticut  river,  passed  the  Dutch  station,  and 
established  a  trading  house  where  Windsor  now  stands;  and 


New  England  Slate  (Conneclicul.)  11 

a  few  Massachusetts  traders  and  explorers  had  made  their  way 
through  the  wilderness  to  the  same  point.  In  the  following 
year  the  first  real  settlements  took  place.  In  1630  and  1632 
the  towns  and  congregations  of  Dorchester,  Watertown  and 
Newtown,  in  Massachusetts,  had  been  founded,  each  by  a 
distinct  body  of  immigrants  from  England.*  For  various 
reasons  they  became  dissatisfied  with  their  location,  and  de- 
sired a  removal  further  west.  After  a  year's  persistent  appli- 
cation they  wrung  from  the  General  Court  a  reluctant  consent, 
conditioned  on  their  remaining  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
Massachusetts. f  In  1634,  before  the  consent  was  given,  a 
few  persons  from  Watertown  settled  at  Wethersfield.  In 
1635  the  main  Watertown  body  followed  to  Wethersfield, 
and  the  Dorchester  body  to  Windsor;  and  in  1636  the  main 
Newtown  body  removed  to  Hartford.  At  the  end  of  the 
year  1636,  these  three  townships,  the  nucleus  of  the  Connec- 
ticut colony,  contained  about  160  families  and  800  persons. 
In  the  following  year  they  contained  a  sufficient  number  of 
fighting  men  to  declare  war  against  the  Pequots,  and  almost 
annihilated  that  tribe.  X 

In  1635,  the  Say  and  Selc  associates  built  a  fort  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Connecticut  river.  In  1639,  Colonel  George 
Fenwick,  the  only  one  of  the  associates  who  showed  any  dis- 
position to  urge  the  claim,  brought  colonists  to  Saybrook,  or 
Seabrook,  as  the  fort  was  often  called,  and  it  kept  up  an  inde- 
pendent existence  for  some  years.  Fenwick  was  treated  by 
the  Connecticut  colonists  with  the  deference  due  to  a  possibly 
formidable  rival.  In  164  4  various  reasons  recalled  him  to 
England,  and  he  sold  Saybrook  to  the  Connecticut  colony. 
The  equivalent  was  to  be  certain  tolls  upon  vessels  passing 
the  fort,  Mid  they  netted  Fenwick  about  £1,600.  In  return 
he  transferred   the  fort  and   promised,  "if  it  came  into  his 


*  1  Mather's  Mogilalia,  75. 
t  1  Suvuge'a  Winthrop,  1(17. 
I  See  the  Connecticut  authorities. 


12  The  Genesis  of  a 

power,"  to  transfer  all  the  land  from  Saybrook  to  the  Narra- 
gansett  river.  This  agreement  was  never  executed,  but  it 
quieted  the  only  one  of  the  Say  and  Sele  associates  who  had 
shown  any  disposition  to  interfere  with  the  pushing  and 
ambitious  Connecticut  colony.  Saybrook  now  became  a  Con- 
necticut town.* 

In  1637  the  wealthiest  body  of  immigrants  that  had  yet 
come  from  England  arrived  at  Boston."}"  They  resisted  all 
inducements  to  settle  in  Massachusetts,  and  in  1638  founded 
a  colony  of  their  own  at  what  is  now  New  Haven.  Their 
title  rested  entirely  on  purchase  from  the  Indians,  as  did  all 
their  subsequent  extensions.  When  their  stronger  neighbor, 
the  Connecticut  colony,  by  its  Fenwick  purchase,  acquired  a 
pseudo  title  under  the  Say  and  Sele  grant,  the  New  Haven 
colony  at  first  showed  signs  of  a  disposition  to  assert  the 
Stirling  grant  as  perhaps  giving  it  some  kind  of  a  paper 
title  beyond  its  mere  purchases  on  Long  Island;  J  but  it  soon 
settled  back,  for  its  right  to  existence,  upon  its  Indian  pur- 
chases and  its  recognition  as  a  member  of  the  New  England 
Union  in  1643.  § 

There  were  thus,  in  1638,  three  independent  colonies 
within  the  present  limits  of  Connecticut.  One  of  them,  the 
Saybrook  colony,  rested  on  a  paper  title,  which  rested  on 
nothing  and  was  never  perfected.  The  other  two,  the  sur- 
vivors after  1644,  had  not  even  a  baseless  paper  title  to  rest 
upon.  Both  were  as  perfect  examples  of  "Squatter  sover- 
eignty "  as  Douglas  could  have  asked  for.  Without  a  shadow 
of  reliance  upon  authority,  they  formed  their  own  govern- 
ments, proprio  vigore,  made  war,  peace  and  alliances,  levied 
taxes,  and  collected  customs.      In    1643  they  united  with 


*  Dwight,  cap.  12.     The  agreement  is  in  1  Conn.  Rec,  266, 
•fAtwater,  80. 

%2  New  Haven  Rec,  300.     "Our  title  to  those  lands  from  the  Lord 
Starling." 

\  See  New  Haven  authorities. 


New  England  State  (Connecticut.)  13 

Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  Bay  in  the  New  England  Union. 
In  1G50  they  joined  in  the  treaty  at  Hartford  with  Governor 
Stuyvesant,  which  put  the  boundary  between  New  York  and 
Connecticut*  very  much  as  at  present,  except  that  it  was  a 
straight  line  throughout,  and  continued  across  Long  Island 
from  Oyster  Bay  to  the  Ocean.  Before  the  charter  was 
granted,  Massachusetts  f  had  agreed  to  a  boundary  line  not 
very  far  from  that  which  was  ultimately  settled  ;  and  as  Mas- 
sachusetts claimed  the  territory  on  the  east,  the  modern  State 
of  Rhode  Island,  the  limits  of  the  commonwealths  were  fairly 
settled.  Let  us  see  how  their  towns  developed  them,  and 
how  they  treated  their  towns. 

The   Connecticut  Colony. 

It  must  be  noted  that  these  Newtown,  Watertown,  and 
Dorchester  migrations  had  not  been  altogether  a  simple 
transfer  of  individual  settlers  from  one  colony  to  another. 
In  each  of  these  migrations  a  part  of  the  people  was  left 
behind,  so  that  the  Massachusetts  towns  did  not  cease  to 
exist.  And  yet  each  of  them  brought  its  Massachusetts 
magistrates,  its  ministers  (except  Watertown),  and  all  the 
political  and  ecclesiastical  machinery  of  the  town  ;  £  and  at 
least  one  of  them  (Dorchester)  had  hardly  changed  its  struc- 
ture since  its  members  first  organized  in  l(i30  at  Dorchester 
in  England.  The  first  settlement  of  Connecticut  was  thus 
the  migration  of  three  distinct  and  individual  town  organiza- 
tions out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts  and  into  abso- 
lute freedom.  It  was  the  Massachusetts  town  system  set 
loose  in  the  wilderness. 

At  first  the  three  towns  retained  even  their  Massachusetts 
names;  and  it  was  not  until   the  eighth  court  meeting,  Feb- 


*  1  hrvdhtad,  510. 

t  Rowen,  17,  (map). 

%  1  Bond,  '.ISO;   Hartley,  ■»'.»;   Stiles,  25  (note). 


14  The  Genesis  of  a 

ruary  21,  1636(7),*  that  it  was  decided  that  "the  plantacon 
nowe  called  Newtowne  shalbe  called  &  named  by  the  name 
of  Harteforde  Towne,  likewise  the  plantacon  now  called 
Watertowne  shalbe  called  &  named  Wythersfeild,"  and  "the 
plantacon  called  Dorchester  shalbe  called  Windsor."  On  the 
same  day  the  boundaries  between  the  three  towns  were 
"agreed"  upon,  and  thus  the  germ  of  the  future  State  was 
the  agreement  and  union  of  the  three  towns.  Accordingly, 
the  subsequent  court  meeting  at  Hartford,  May  1,  1637,f  for 
the  first  time  took  the  name  of  the  "Genrall  Corte,"  and  was 
composed,  in  addition  to  the  town  magistrates  who  had  pre- 
viously held  it,  of  "comittees"  of  three  from  each  town. 
So  simply  and  naturally  did  the  migrated  town  system 
evolve,  in  this  binal  assembly,  the  seminal  principle  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  future  State  of 
Connecticut.  The  Assembly  further  showed  its  consciousness 
of  separate  existence  by  declaring  "an  offensive  warr  ag'  the 
Pequoitt,"  assigning  the  proportions  of  its  miniature  army 
and  supplies  to  each  town,  and  appointing  a  commander.  In 
June  it  even  ordered  a  settlement  to  "sett  downe  in  the 
Pequoitt  Countrey  %  &  River  in  place  convenient  to  mayn- 
teine  or  right  y1  God  by  Conquest  hath  given  to  us."  So 
complete  are  the  features  of  State-hood,  that  we  may  fairly 
assign  May  1,  1637,  as  the  proper  birthday  of  Connecticut. 
No  King,  no  Congress  presided  over  the  birth  :  its  seed  was 
in  the  towns. 

January  14,  1638(9),  the  little  Commonwealth  formed  the 
first  American  Constitution^  at  Hartford.     So  far  as  its  pro- 


*  1  Conn.  Rec,  7. 

f  1  Conn.  Rec,  9. 

X  The  Pequot  Country  was,  in  general  terras,  the  south-eastern  part  of 
the  State,  east  of  the  Connecticut  river.  Massachusetts  claimed  a  share 
in  the  rights  of  conquest,  but  Connecticut  never  relaxed  her  hold  upon 
it,  and  the  charter  gave  her  a  formal  approval  of  her  claim. — Bowen,  26 
(map). 

\  1  Conn.  Rec,  20. 


New  England  Slate  (Connecticut.)  15 

visions  arc  concerned,  the  King,  the  Parliament,  the  Plymouth 
Council,  the  Warwick  grant,  the  Say  and  Sele  grant,  might 
as  well  have  been  non-existent:  not  one  of  them  is  mentioned. 
It  is  made,  according  to  the  preamble,  on  the  authority  of  the 
people  dwelling  on  "the  River  of  Conncctecotte  and  the 
Lands  thereunto  adioyneing; "  its  objects  are  to  establish 
"an  orderly  and  decent  Gouerment,"  which  should  "order 
and  dispose  of  the  affayres  of  the  people,"  and  to  maintain 
"the  liberty  and  purity  of  the  gospel  1"  and  "the  diseiplyne 
of  the  churches;"  and  for  these  purposes  its  authors  "doe 
therefore  assotiate  and  conjoyne  our  seines  to  be  as  one  Publike 
State  or  Comonwealth."  The  only  sovereignty  recognized  in 
the  constitution  or  the  oaths  of  office  prescribed  by  it,  is  that 
of  the  people.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  said  that  the  govern- 
ment of  Connecticut  was  formed  by  the  three  towns,  though 
it  undeniably  grew  out  of  them  and  was  conditioned  on  every 
side  by  their  precedent  existence.  Its  establishment  has  some 
parallels  to  that  of  the  Federal  Constitution  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  afterward.  In  both  cases  the  constituent  units, 
towns  and  States,  never  independent  in  fact  before  or  after, 
were  nominally  independent  before  but  not  after.  In  both 
cases,  while  the  units  remained  the  same  as  before,  the  con- 
stitution was  not  framed  by  General  Court  or  by  Congress, 
but  by  an  unprecedented  body,  a  popular  convention  in  the 
one  case,  a  Federal  Convention  in  the  other.  In  both  cases 
the  new  political  creation  succeeded  to  a  part  of  the  powers 
which  the  constituent  units  had  before  exercised.  Here  the 
parallel  ceases:  there  was  no  occasion  for  any  ratification  by 
the  towns,  since  their  inhabitants  had  united  in  framing:  the 
constitution  itself. 

There  were  to  be  two  "General  Assemblies  or  Courts" 
yearly,  in  April  and  September:  the  former  for  the  election 
of  a  Governor  and  other  magistrates  for  one  year;  the  latter 
"for  makeing  of  lawes."  A  General  Court  was  to  consist  of 
a  Governor,  Magistrates,  and  Deputies.     Each  town  was  to 


16  The  Genesis  of  a 

nominate  two  persons  as  Magistrates;  *  and  out  of  the  whole 
mini  her  nominated  the  General  Court  was  to  choose  by  ballot 
not  less  than  six  for  the  next  year,  but  might  "  ad  so  many 
more  as  they  judge  requisitt."  The  three  towns  were  each 
to  send  four  Deputies  "  to  agitate  the  affayres  of  the  Comon- 
wealth;"  new  towns  were  to  send  Deputies  according  to 
their  population.  If  the  Governor  and  Magistrates  at  any 
time  refused  to  summon  a  General  Court  upon  petition  of  the 
freemen,  the  towns,  through  their  constables,  were  to  issue 
the  summons,  and  in  such  case  the  Governor  and  Magistrates 
were  to  be  excluded  from  the  General  Court.  The  election 
of  local  officers  and  the  management  of  local  affairs  were  left 
entirely  to  the  towns,  with  an  indefinite  power  of  supervision 
in  the  General  Court.  "  In  woh  said  Generall  Courts  shall 
consist  the  supreme  power  of  the  Comonwealth,  and  they  only 
shall  haue  power  to  make  lawes  or  repeal  the,  to  graunt  leuyes, 
to  ad  mitt  of  Freemen,f  dispose  of  lands  vndisposed  of  to 
seuerall  Townes  or  prsons,  and  also  shall  haue  power  to  call 
ether  Courte  or  Magestrate  or  any  other  prson  whatsoeuer  into 
question  for  any  misdemeanour,  and  may  for  just  causes  dis- 
place or  deale  otherwise  according  to  the  nature  of  the  offence, 
and  also  may  deale  in  any  other  matter  that  concerns  the  good 
of  this  coitionwelth,  excepte  election  of  Magestrats,  woh  shall 
be  done  by  the  whole  boddy  of  Freemen."  This  constitution 
was  not  only  the  earliest  but  the  longest  in  continuance  of 
American  documents  of  the  kind,  unless  we  except  the  Rhode 
Island  charter. X  It  was  not  essentially  altered  by  the  charter 
of  1662,  which  was  practically  a  royal  confirmation  of  it; 
and  it  was  not  until  1818  that  the  charter,  that  is,  the  con- 


*  These  officers,  the  germ  of  the  future  Senate,  exercised  judicial  powers 
in  their  towns ;  and,  as  the  General  Court  grew  stronger,  it  also  appointed 
commissioners  "  with  magestraticall  powers  "  for  the  towns. 

f  In  1*543  the  General  Court  left  the  admission  of  freemen  to  a  major 
vote  of  each  town,  retaining  only  a  formal  right  of  confirmation. 

+  Connecticut,  1639-1818;  Rhode  Island,  1663-1842. 


New  England  Stale  {Connecticut.)  17 

stitution  of  1G39,  was  superseded  by  the  present  constitution. 
Connecticut  was  as  absolutely  a  State  in  1G39  as  in  1776. 

In  both  the  Connecticut  and  the  New  Haven  colonies  the 
General  Courts  not  only  made  laws  and  pardoned  offences 
against  them,  but  exercised  the  judicial  power  on  appeal  from 
the  Particular  Courts,  the  magistrates  of  the  towns.  The 
records  of  both  are  cumbered  with  tedious  civil  and  criminal 
suits,  in  which  Connecticut  provided  for,  and  New  leaven 
denied,  trial  by  jury.  But  the  essential  difference  between 
the  two  was,  that  Connecticut  left  to  the  towns  a  control  over 
their  civil  and  religious  affairs  which  the  more  somber  tone 
of  New  Haven  denied.  The  early  Connecticut  town  and  its 
church  were  identical ;  *  the  officers  and  affairs  of  both  were 
settled  to  the  people's  liking  at  one  meeting;  and  the  General 
Court  interfered  only  to  apportion  taxes  and  decide  differences. 
From  the  first  appearance  of  a  New  Haven  town,  the  General 
Court  was  always  meddling".  Connecticut  gave  the  town  sys- 
tem full  and  t'v^e  play:  New  Haven  aimed  to  be  a  central  ized 
theocracy,  responsible  for  the  moral  well  being  of  its  depend- 
ent towns.  The  consequence  was  that  Connecticut  rapidly 
outstripped  her  rival  in  the  race  for  the  formation  of  new 
towns  and  the  appropriation  of  the  No-man's-land  around 
them.  Her  early  Indian  wars  gave  her  extensive  rights  of 
conquest,  which  her  restless  citizens  were  not  slow  to  perfect 
by  settlement.  Even  the  unchecked  religious  dissensions  in 
her  churches  hastened  the  process  of  town  formation  by  scat- 
tering new  settlements  governed  by  Connecticut  notions,  f 
Thus,  long  before  the  grant  of  a  charter,   Connecticut   had 


*In  17'J'S,  members  <>f  other  sects  than  the  Congregational  having 
become  numerous,  the  General  Court  allowed  the  formation  of  other 
churches.  When  this  was  done,  the  Congregational  church  took  the  legal 
name  of  "The  Prime  Ancient  Society,''  and  the  town  meetings  were 
separated  from  it. 

f  A  Wethersileld  offshoot  left  the  Connecticut  colony,  colonized  Stam- 
ford, and  very  naturally  became  the  most  unmanageable  of  the  New 
Haven   towns. 


18  The  Genesis  of  a 

hemmed  her  rival  in  by  towns  of  her  own,  confined  her  to 
the  territory  around  the  original  settlement,  and  left  her  no 
room  for  expansion. 

Connecticut  histories  state  that  the  towns  were  "  incorpor- 
ated" in  1639  by  the  General  Court.  The  only  incorporation 
was  a  series  of  general  acts,  passed  October  10, 1639,  the  first 
after  the  adoption  of  the  constitution ;  but  these  were  only  a 
formal  legislative  confirmation  of  recognized  town  privileges. 
They  enacted  *  that  "  the  Townes  of  Hartford,  Windsore,  and 
Wethersfield,  or  any  other  of  the  Townes  within  this  juris- 
diction," should  have  power  to  dispose  of  vacant  lands,  choose 
their  own  officers  and  courts,  and  control  their  local  affairs; 
and  they  confirmed  to  the  towns  the  probate  jurisdiction  and 
control  over  the  records  of  real  estate  transfers  which  they 
still  retain.  They  speak  also  of  the  towns'  "lymitts  bounded 
out  by  this  court."  In  the  case  of  neighboring  towns,  par- 
ticularly where  there  were  any  differences  of  opinion,  the 
court  always  exercised  this  power  of  settling  town  boundaries, 
beginning  in  the  next  year,  1640.f  The  boundaries  of  the 
new  towns  of  Farmington  and  New  London  were  laid  out  by 
the  court  in  1645  and  1649,J  and  this  method  of  locating  a 
new  town  was  thereafter  increasingly  more  frequent  until 
1662.  After  that  year  the  General  Court's  authority  in  the 
matter  became  exclusive. 

But,  as  a  general  rule,  before  the  charter  was  received,  the 
town  boundaries  were  fixed  by  agreement  of  the  inhabitants 
or  by  Indian  purchase,  and  the  tacit  recognition  of  the  Gene- 
ral Court  and  its  agents.  The  "incorporation"  of  a  new 
town  usually  consisted  in  such  fatherly  advice  as  was  given 
in  1650  to  the  persons  intending  to  settle  Norwalk  :  they  are 
directed  to  make  all  preparations  for  self-defence,  to  divide 


*1  Conn.  Jtec,  36. 
f  1  Conn.  Rec,  47. 

J]  Conn.  Rec,  133,  185.     But  in  New  London  local  government  had 
already  been  begun  by  the  people.     Caulkins,  56. 


New  England  Stale  (Connecticut.)  19 

up  the  land  subject  to  the  rectification  of  "aberrations"  by 
the  General  Court,  and  to  "attend  a  due  payment  of  theire 
proportions  in  all  publique  charges."  *  The  organization  of 
a  primitive  Connecticut  town  was  thus  altogether  popular, 
sometimes  with,  sometimes  without,  the  General  Court's 
express  control. 

As  soon  as  the  population  of  any  defined  purchase  or  grant 
became  numerous  enough  to  demand  local  government,  a  gen- 
eral meeting  elected  a  constable  and  two  or  more  townsmen, 
ordered  the  erection  of  a  pound  and  (generally)  of  a  minister's 
house,  and  took  charge  of  allotments  of  land.  As  soon  as  the 
little  town  gained  some  consistence,  the  General  Court's  agents 
appeared  with  a  demand  for  the  town's  "rate"  or  statement 
of  persons  and  property,  for  purposes  of  taxation.  For  these 
purposes  the  constable  was  a  Commonwealth's  officer  as  well 
as  a  local  officer,  and  through  him  and  the  magistrates  or 
commissioners  the  town  was  attached  to  the  Commonwealth. f 

As  soon  as  the  rate  showed  a  sufficient  number  of  freemen, 
the  town  might  send  a  Deputy  to  the  General  Court;  but  this 
troublesome  privilege  was  at  first  unused.  Until  1647  the 
twelve  Deputies  from  the  three  original  towns  sufficed  to 
make  laws  and  lay  taxes  for  all  the  towns.^  Even  when  the 
number  of  Deputies  begins  to  increase,  the  towns  which  they 
severally  represent  are  not  named.  But  the  growth  of  the 
Connecticut  town  system  may  be  seen  by  this  steady  increase 
in  the  number  of  Deputies  after  10544,  when  Southampton, 
L.  I.,  was  admitted  as  a  town.  In  May,  1647,  the  number 
of  Deputies  rose  from  12  to  IS;  in  May,  10)49,  to  20;  in 
May,  1651,  to  22;  in  May,  1654,  to  24;  in  May,  1655,  to 
25;  and  in  February,  1656(7),  to  26.     At  first  only  the  three 


*In  16.">1  the  General  Court  formally  voted  that  Mattabezeck  (Middle- 
town),  and  Norwalk  should  be  towns,  and  choose  eonsUibles. 

fThe  process  may  be  followed  in  detail  in  the  local  h i ^t< >r t «■>  among  the 
authorities. 

JOnee,  in  1645,  thirteen  were  present. 


20  The  Genesis  of  a 

original  towns  appear  in  the  "rates."  In  1645,  Stratford, 
Fairfield,  Southampton,  L.  L,  Saybrook,  and  Farmington 
appear  in  the  rates.  In  1653,  Norwalk,  Middletovvn,  and 
New  London  close  the  list  of  formal  additions  to  the  rate  list 
of  towns,  until  the  advent  of  the  charter.  The  other  smaller 
towns,  whose  independent  existence  is  constantly  recognized 
in  the  General  Court  proceedings,  were  rated  as  parts  of  these 
principal  towns. 

The  natural  expansiveness  of  the  free  Connecticut  town 
system  was  exemplified  on  Long  Island.*  After  1662  the 
colony's  claim  to  that  island  rested  on  the  charter's  grant  of 
the  "island's  adjoining"  its  coast:  before  that  date,  its  claim 
was  exactly  on  a  par  with  its  claim  to  the  mainland,  the  vol- 
untary action  of  the  towns.  In  1635  the  King  had  granted 
Long  Island  to  the  Earl  of  Stirling.  He  seemed  to  care 
nothing  for  its  jurisdiction ;  and,  as  purchases  were  made, 
the  settlers  formed  towns  and  applied  for  admission  to  Con- 
necticut! Southampton  was  admitted  in  1644,  Easthamp- 
ton  in  1649,  Setauket  in  1658,  Huntington  in  1660,  and 
Southold  and  the  other  English  towns  in  1662,  after  the 
grant  of  the  charter.  In  1664  the  Duke  of  York,  having 
bought  the  Stirling  patent,  extended  the  jurisdiction  of  New 
York  over  Long  Island,  and  Connecticut  was  unable  to  resist 
him. J  In  1673,  when  the  Dutch  recaptured  New  York,  the 
English  towns  on  Long  Island  again  took  shelter  with  Con- 
necticut; but  in  the  following  year  the  Duke  was  again  put 
into  possession  of  his  province,  and  Connecticut  finally  lost 
Long  Island. § 

During  its  period  of  independent  existence,  the  Connecticut 
commonwealth,  as  has  been  said,  gave  the  town  system  full 


*  Springfield,  Mass.,  was  also  for  a  time  claimed  as  a  Connecticut  town, 
1  Holland,  30-33.  More  than  a  century  afterward,  Connecticut's  claim  to 
a  part  of  Pennsylvania  was  only  asserted  by  means  of  the  continued  vital- 
ity of  her  town  system,  and  its  extension  to  Wyoming. 

f  Southold  entered  the  New  Haven  colony,  by  purchase. 

X  1  Brodhead,  726. 

I  Wood,  24-28. 


New  England  State  (Connecticut.)  21 

and  free  piny.  The  instances  of  interference  with  local  gov- 
emment  are  very  few.  In  October,  1656,  the  towns  were 
forbidden  to  entertain  "Quakers,  Ranters,  Adamites,  or  such 
like  notorious  heretiques,"  under  penalty  of  £o  per  week. 
In  February,  1656(7),  the  General  Court  limited  the  right  of 
suffrage  by  declaring  that  the  phrase  "admitted  inhabitants" 
in  the  constitution  meant  only  "householders  that  are  one  & 
twenty  yeares  of  age,  or  have  bore  office,  or  have  £30  estate."* 
This  was  reaffirmed  in  1658.  In  March,  1657(8),  it  was 
ordered  that  no  persons  should  "  imbody  themselves  into 
church  estate"  without  consent  of  the  General  Court  and 
approbation  of  their  neighbor  churches.  With  these  excep- 
tions, Connecticut  towns  did  very  much  as  they  pleased  in 
civil  and  religious  affairs,  provided  they  paid  their  rates 
promptly. 

New  Haven  Colony. 

June  4,  1639,  the  planters  at  Quinnipiack  (New  Haven) 
met  and  framed  a  civil  government  which  was  at  least  closely 
bound  up  with  the  ecclesiastical  government. f  They  agreed 
that  the  Scriptures  should  be  the  law  of  the  town  ;  that  only 
church  members  should  be  burgesses  and  choose  magistrates 
from  their  own  number;  that  twelve  burgesses  should  now 
be  chosen  by  general  vote;  and  that  these  should  choose  seven 
of  their  number  to  be  the  seven  pillars  of  the  church  and  the 
first  General  Court.  In  the  following  year  the  name  of  the 
town  was  changed  to  New  Haven.  The  management  of 
public;  affairs  by  the  General  Court  was  of  the  most  austere 
character.  Sumptuary  laws  and  acts  to  regulate  prices  and 
wages  were  immediately  passed  ;  and  the  authority  of  the 
church  was  upheld  by  punishing  criminally  such  as  did 
"expressly  crosse  y8  rule"  by  venturing  to  "  eate,  drinke,  & 


*  1  Conn.  lire,  29:?. 

11    Xew  Haven  Rec,  11.      liacoi,  lit,  argues  t"  the  contrary;    but  sec 

.1  twdtcr,  91. 


22  The  Genesis  of  a 

to  shew  respect  unto  exeomraunjcate  persons."  This  system 
did  not  at  first  provoke  any  resistance  in  the  original  off- 
shoots* from  New  Haven,  the  towns  of  Milford,  Guilford, 
and  Branford,  whose  people  were  wholly  at  one  with  those 
of  New  Haven.  But  it  was  a  constant  source  of  heart- 
burning in  the  more  distant  acquisitions  of  Stamford  and 
Southold ;  f  it  checked  any  extension  of  the  New  Haven 
jurisdiction  outside  of  these  six  towns;  and  in  the  final 
struggle  between  Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  it  proved 
to  be  the  latter's  vulnerable  point. 

New  Haven  extension  was  altogether  by  purchase ;  and, 
when  the  union  of  the  towns  was  consummated,  the  General 
Court  controlled  the  town  organizations  much  more  minutely 
than  Connecticut  attempted  to  do.  Constables  and  magis- 
trates for  the  new  towns  were  appointed  at  first  by  the 
General  Court,  and  the  right  of  confirmation  at  least  was 
always  insisted  upon,  even  when  the  towns  began  to  assert 
their  own  right  of  choice.  Some  symptoms  of  weakening 
were  shown  as  internal  dissensions  grew  warmer.  In  J  656 
two  constables  were  appointed  for  Stamford,  but  one  of  them 
was  not  to  serve  if  the  freemen  of  that  town  were  not  willing, 
"  though  the  court  be  of  another  minde."  J  But,  as  a  general 
rule,  all  the  towns  were  to  follow  implicitly  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  methods  of  the  parent  town ;  even  the  officers 
of  their  "  trayned  bandes"  were  to  be  church  members, 
approved  by  the  magistrates  whom  the  General  Court  had 
appointed  or  confirmed. 

In  this  manner  five  dependent  or  co-ordinate  towns  were 
formed.  §  The  neighboring  towns  of  Milford  and  Guilford, 
bought  in  1639,  were  independent  at  first,  but  were  admitted 
to  the  General  Court  in  1643.     Stamford,  bought  in  1610, 


*  Fowler,  68. 

f  Huntington,  73  ;  Atwater,  387. 

X  2  New  Haven  Rec,  173. 

I  Unsuccessful  efforts  were  also  made  to  colonize  in  Delaware  Bay. 


New  England  State  (Connecticut.)  23 

was  admitted  in  1641.  Southold,  L.  I.,  bought  in  1640,  was 
admitted  in  1649.  Greenwich  was  also  bought  in  1640,  but 
the  Dutch  seduced  the  purchasing  agents  into  making  it  a 
Dutch  town.*  In  1650,  by  the  treaty  of  Hartford,  it  was 
restored  to  New  Haven  and  became  a  part  of  Stamford.  The 
last  of  the  towns,  Branford,  granted  to  a  new  colony  in  1640, 
was  also  independent  at  first:  it  was  admitted  in  1651.  In 
1656  and  1659  Huntington,  L.  I.,  applied  to  be  admitted, 
but  was  refused  because  it  insisted  on  the  right  of  trying  all 
its  civil  cases,  and  all  its  criminal  cases  not  capital. "f*  All 
the  New  Haven  towns  were  thus  restricted  to  the  same  mould. 
One  trivial  exception  was  made  in  the  ense  of  Milford,  which 
had  made  voters  of  six  persons,  not  church  members,  before 
its  admission.  This  was  allowed  to  stand,  after  much  nego- 
tiation, on  condition  that  it  should  never  be  repeated,  and 
that  the  six  interlopers  should  never  hold  ofiiee. 

October  27,  1643,  the  General  Court,  which  was  now  com- 
posed of  the  Governor  and  the  Magistrates  and  Deputies  of 
New  Haven,  Stamford,  Milford,  and  Guilford,  adopted  a 
series  of  " foundamentall  orders"  as  a  constitution.  J  All 
persons  were  to  have  the  rights  of  "inheritance  and  com- 
merce," but  only  church  members  were  to  l>e  burgesses, 
vote,  or  hold  oilice.  The  towns  were  to  choose  their  own 
courts,  but  these  were  only  to  try  civil  cases  under  £20,  or 
inflict  punishment  of  "stocking  and  whipping,"  or  a  fine  of 
■£50.  All  higher  cases,  and  appeals  in  the  lower  cases,  were 
reserved  to  the  General  Court.  The  free  burgesses  were  to 
choose  the  Governor  and  other  commonwealth  officers,  those 
at  a  distance  voting  by  proxy.  The  Governor,  the  Magis- 
trates of  each  town,  and  two  Deputies  from  each  town,  were 
to  meet  at  New  Haven  in  General  Court  annually  in  April 
and  October.     The  General  Court  was  to  maintain  the  purity 


*  Mead,  28. 

+  2  New  Harm  Rec,  237,  209. 

\  \  New  Haven  Rec,  112;    Fowler,  71. 


24  The  Genesis  of  a 

of  religion  and  "suppress  the  contrary,"  make  and  repeal 
laws,  require  their  execution  by  the  towns,  impose  an  oath  of 
fidelity  upon  the  people,  levy  rates  upon  the  towns,  and  try 
causes  according  to  the  Scriptures.  In  April,  1644,  "  the  laws 
of  God,  as  they  were  delivered  by  Moses,"  were  adopted  as 
the  criminal  code  of  the  Commonwealth.* 

The  records  of  the  General  Court  from  1644  until  1653 
have  disappeared,  but  it  is  evident  that  internal  difficulties 
had  taken  shape  during  the  period  covered  by  the  break.  In 
1653  the  General  Court  remarked  with  asperity  that  it  had 
"  heard  sundrie  reports  of  an  vnsatisfying  offensive  way  of 
cariag  in  some  at  Southold,  as  those  wch  grow  weary  of  that 
way  of  civill  gouerment  wch  they  haue  for  diuers  yeares  (and 
wth  much  comfort  and  safty)  lined  vnder,"  and  warned  the 
offenders  to  abate  the  scandal.f  Soon  afterward  the  Gov- 
ernor called  attention  to  a  public  appeal  to  the  people  "to 
stand  for  their  libberties,  that  they  may  all  haue  their  votes 
and  shake  of  the  yoake  of  gouermt  they  haue  bine  vnder  in 
this  jurisdiction."  In  the  next  year  there  were  incipient 
rebellions  in  Southold  and  Stamford,  and  it  was  ordered  that 
"a  serious  view  be  made"  in  each  town,  and  the  oath  of 
fidelity  be  administered  to  all  the  inhabitants.  Several  of 
the  Southold  people  were  haled  before  the  Court  for  sedi- 
tiously declaring  that  this  was  "  a  tyrannicall  gouerm'."  Two 
years  afterward  the  Court  complained  that  men  not  church 
members  had  been  allowed  to  vote  in  some  of  the  towns, 
contrary  to  the  "foundamentall  orders,"  and  directed  that 
"  these  orders  be  exactly  attended."  The  Southold  consta- 
bles were  specially  instructed  to  make  a  "reformation"  in 
that  town. 

This  persistent  attempt  to  keep  the  towns  in  pupilage,  and 
the  political  power  in  the  hands  of  church  members,  con- 
trasted   very    unfavorably'  with    the    policy  of  Connecticut, 

*1  New  Haven  Rec,  130. 
f  2  New  Haven  Rec,  17. 


New  England  Slate  (Connecticut.)  25 

where,  after  1643,  the  General  Court  admitted  as  voters  all 
who  were  approved  by  a  major  vote  of  any  town,  with  a 
general  property  qualification.  The  struggle  was  between  a 
free  town  system  and  a  system  of  shackled  towns;  and  the 
latter  was  at  a  disadvantage.  A  strong  Connecticut  party  had 
grown  up  before  the  charter  was  granted,  not  only  in  Stam- 
ford and  Southold,  but  in  Guilford  and  Milford.  In  1661 
several  of  the  magistrates  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  fidelity; 
and  the  spirit  of  disaffection  had  eaten  so  deep  that,  if  we 
may  accept  the  unchallenged  assertion  of  the  Connecticut 
General  Court,  the  annihilation  of  the  New  Haven  jurisdic- 
tion, and  the  absorption  of  its  territory  into  Connecticut,  were 
urged  by  the  "cheife  in  gouerment"  at  New  Haven  in  letters 
to  Governor  Winthrop.*  This  result,  as  accomplished  by  the 
charter  in  1662,  seems  to  have  been  only  a  hurrying  of  an 
inevitable  catastrophe. 

The  Union. 

The  Restoration  in  England  left  the  New  Haven  colony 
under  a  cloud  in  the  favor  of  the  new  government :  it  had 
been  tardy  and  ungracious  in  its  proclamation  of  Charles  II.; 
it  had  been  especially  remiss  in  searching  for  the  regicide 
colonels,  Goffe  and  Whalley;f  and  any  application  for  a 
charter  would  have  come  from  New  Haven  with  a  very  ill 
grace.  Connecticut  was  under  no  such  disabilities;  and  it 
had  in  its  Governor,  John  Winthrop,  a  man  well  calculated 
to  win  favor  with  the  new  King.  \  The  General  Court  had 
a  clear  perception  of  its  proper  line  of  action,  and  followed 
up  its  advantages  with  promptitude,  energy,  and  success.  Its 
objects  W2re  to  obtain  from  the  King,  in  the  first  Hush  of  the 
Restoration,  a  confirmation  of   the   privileges  which   it  had 


*'_>  ATeio  Haven  lire,  536;    1    Mathor's  Magnalia,  7* 

f  See  Secretary  Ruwson's  letter  to  Gov.  Lecte  in  *J  .Veto  Haven  Itec,  -119. 

+  1  Hollister,  20T. 


26  The  Genesis  of  a 

evolved  out  of  a  free  town  system,  and  to  remove  peaceably 
the  obstacle  to  complete  State-hood  which  was  imposed  by  the 
independent  position  of  New  Haven.  In  March,  1660,  the 
General  Court  solemnly  declared  its  loyalty  to  Charles  II., 
sent  the  Governor  to  England  to  offer  a  loyal  address  to  the 
King  and  ask  him  for  a  charter,  and  laid  aside  .£500  for  his 
expenses.  Winthrop  was  successful,  and  the  charter  was 
granted  April  20,  1662. 

The  acquisition  of  the  charter  raised  the  Connecticut  leaders 
to  the  seventh  heaven  of  satisfaction.  And  well  it  might,  for 
it  was  a  grant  of  privileges  with  hardly  a  limitation.  Prac- 
tically the  King  had  given  Winthrop  carte  blanche,  and 
allowed  him  to  frame  the  charter  to  suit  himself.  It  incor- 
porated the  freemen  of  Connecticut  as  a  "  body  corporate  and 
pollitique,"  by  the  name  of  "The  Governor  and  Company  of 
the  English  Collony  of  Conecticut  in  New  England  in  Amer- 
ica." There  were  to  be  a  Governor,  a  Deputy  Governor,  and 
twelve  Assistants  (hitherto  called  Magistrates).  The  Gov- 
ernor, Assistants,  and  two  Deputies  from  each  town  were  to 
meet  twice  a  year  in  General  Assembly,  to  make  laws,  elect 
and  remove  Governors,  Assistants  and  Magistrates.  The 
people  were  to  have  all  the  liberties  and  immunities  of  free 
and  natural  subjects  of  the  King,  as  if  born  within  the  realm. 
It  granted  to  the  Governor  and  Company  all  that  part  of  New 
England  south  of  the  Massachusetts  line  and  west  of  the 
"Norroganatt  River,  commonly  called  Norroganatt  Bay"  to 
the  South  Sea,  with  the  "  Islands  thereunto  adioyneinge." 
These  were  the  essential  points  of  the  charter,*  and  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  more  than  two  points  in  which  it  altered  the  con- 
stitution adopted  by  the  towns  in  1639.  There  were  now  to 
be  two  deputies  from  each  town ;  and  the  boundaries  of  the 
Commonwealth  now  embraced  the  rival  colony  of  New  Haven. 
The  former  change  had  already  been  recommended  without 

*See  the  charter  in  2  Conn.  Rec,  3  ;  and  the  process  of  obtaining  it  in 
1  Trumbull,  239,  and  1  Eollister,  202. 


New  England  Slate  (Connecticut.)  27 

result  by  the  General  Court ;  and  the  latter  was  longed  for 
by  all  the  leaders  of  the  colony,  and  was  the  objective  point 
of  the  move  for  a  charter.  The  fundamental  point  of  the 
constitution,  the  supreme  power  of  the  General  Court,  was 
unchanged.  Both  Connecticut  and  New  Haven  had  fixed 
their  boundaries  of  their  own  will,  or  by  agreement  with 
their  neighbors.  But  the  separate  existence  of  the  smaller 
Commonwealth  marred  the  fair  proportions  of  the  Common- 
wealth, in  its  natural  outline,  and  Connecticut  threw  the 
King's  sovereignty  into  her  own  scale  in  order  to  effect  a 
peaceable  removal  of  an  obstacle  to  her  complete  State-hood. 
The  town  spirit  built  the  Slate,  and  the  King  added  his  bene- 
diction to  the  structure. 

New  Haven  did  not  submit  without  a  struggle,  for  not 
only  her  pride  of  separate  existence  but  the  supremacy  of  her 
ecclesiastical  system  was  at  stake.  For  three  years  a  succes- 
sion of  diplomatic  notes  passed  between  the  General  Court  of 
Connecticut  and  "our  honored  friends  of  New  Haven,  Mil- 
ford,  Branford,  and  Guilford."  Southold  had  promptly 
accepted  the  charter,  and  there  was  a  strong  party  in  Stam- 
ford and  Guilford  which  desired  to  take  the  same  course. 
To  strengthen  this  party,  Connecticut  appointed  or  confirmed 
constables  and  magistrates  in  the  towns  named,  and  a  war  of 
annoyances  was  kept  up  on  both  sides.  In  October,  1664, 
the  Connecticut  General  Court  appointed  the  New  Haven 
magistrates  commissioners  for  their  towns,  "  with  magistra- 
ticall  powers,"  established  the  New  Haven  local  officers  in 
their  places  for  the  time,  and  declared  oblivion  for  any  past 
resistance  to  the  laws.*  In  December,  Mil  ford  having 
already  submitted,  the  remnant  of  the  New  Haven  General 
Court,  representing  New  Haven,  Guilford,  and  Branford,  held 
its  last  meeting  and  voted  to  submit, f  "  with  a  salvo  jure  of 
our  former  rights  and  claims,  as  a  people  who  have  not  yet 

*1  Conn.  Rfc,  \M . 

f'J  N.  II.  lire,  04'J;   Atwatrr,  610. 


28  The  Genesis  of  a 

been  heard  in  point  of  plea."  The  next  year  the  laws  of 
New  Haven  were  laid  aside  forever,  and  her  towns  sent  depu- 
ties to  the  General  Court  at  Hartford. 

One  of  the  propositions  made  by  Connecticut  in  1663*  was 
that  the  New  Haven  towns  should  be  formed  into  a  distinct 
county,  with  its  own  court.  New  Haven's  refusal  to  unite 
on  any  terms  caused  this  and  the  other  propositions  to  fall 
through,  and  the  union  was  finally  perfected  without  any 
conditions.  But  the  new  General  Court,  in  May,  1666,  con- 
stituted and  bounded  the  four  counties  of  Hartford,  New 
London,  New  Haven  and  Fairfield,  and  gave  them  separate 
courts  "f*  and,  in  the  next  year,  grand  juries.  The  county 
system  of  Connecticut  is  thus  only  an  outgrowth  of  the 
union.  In  1701  the  General  Court  further  voted  that  its 
annual  October  session  should  thereafter  be  held  at  New 
Haven.  This  provision  of  a  double  capital  was  incorpor- 
ated into  the  constitution  of  1818,  and  continued  until  in 
1873  Hartford  was  made  sole  capital  by  constitutional 
amendment. 

The  General  Court,  in  its  new  form,  at  once  took  on  all 
the  features  of  a  power  superior  to  the  towns,  and  resting 
no  longer  on  the  towns'  authority.  The  settlement  of  the 
boundaries  of  new  and  old  towns  at  once  became  a  peculiar 
field  of  the  General  Court ;  and,  until  the  number  of  towns 
increased  so  far  as  to  form  a  safeguard,  regulation  of,  and 
interference  in,  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  the.  towns 
was  far  more  common  and  minute  than  before.  In  1685-6 
all  the  towns  whose  title  rested  on  Indian  purchase  received 
patents  therefor  from  the  General  Court.  This  step  was,  for 
many  of  the  towns,  the  first  real  "  incorporation : "  it  may  be 
compared,  mutatis  mutandis,  to  the  conversion  of  an  allod  into 
a  feud. 

It  must,  of  course,  be  granted  that  the  state  of  affairs  in 
Great  Britain  during  the  years  1634-60  had  very  much  to  do 


*  2  New  Haven  Rec,  493. 
f2  Conn.  Rec,  34,  61. 


Niw  England  State  (Connecticut.)  29 

with  this  opportunity  of  the  town  spirit  to  build  up  the  form 
and  fashion  of  a  state  in  Connecticut.  Chalmers  *  sneeringly 
says  of  the  "  little  colony  of  New  Haven  "  that  it  "enjoyed 
the  gratifications  of  sovereign  insignificance"  until  Charles  II 
annexed  it,  without  its  consent,  to  Connecticut.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  position  of  Connecticut  was  significant  in  the  high- 
est degree.  With  its  neighbor  commonwealth  of  Rhode  Island, 
it  held  for  over  a  century  the  extreme  advanced  ground  to 
which  all  the  other  Commonwealths  came  up  in  1775.f 
King  and  Parliament  sustained  the  royal  veto  power  over 
the  enactments  of  other  colonies;  even  Massachusetts  lost  the 
power  to  elect  her  own  Governor;  but  Connecticut's  posi- 
tion still  kept  alive  the  general  sense  of  the  inherent  colonial 
rights  which  only  waited  for  assertion  upon  the  inevitable 
growth  of  colonial  power.  The  charter  of  Connecticut  was 
the  key-note  of  the  Revolution  ;  and  the  terms  of  that  charter 
are  due,  under  God,  to  the  free  action  of  the  town  system 
transplanted  into  the  perfect  liberty  of  the  wilderness. 


*  1  ftevolt  of  the  Colonies,  53. 
|  Fowler,  101. 


XII 


LOCAL  GOVERNMENT 


FREE  SCHOOLS 


SOUTH  CAROLINA 


"Every  parish  is  the  image  and  reflection  of  the  State." — Thomas  Erskine  May. 

"The  township  appears  in  its  ecclesiastical  form  as  the  parish  or  portion  of  a  parish." — 
Canon  Slubbs. 

"The  institutions  of  any  community  in  the  thirteen  colonies  ....  are  more  than  a 
mere  object  of  local  interest  and  curiosity.  They  show  us  the  institutions  of  the  elder 
England,  neither  slavishly  carried  on  nor  scornfully  cast  aside,  but  reproduced  with  such 
changes  as  changed  circumstances  called  for,  and  those  for  the  most  part  changes  in  the 
direction  of  earlier  times." — Freeman. 

"It  is  the  prerogative  of  self-government  that  it  adapts  itself  to  every  circumstance 
which  can  arise.  Its  institutions,  if  often  defective,  are  always  appropriate;  for  they  are 
the  exact  representation  of  the  condition  of  a  people,  and  can  be  evil  only  because  there 
are  evils  in  society,  exactly  as  a  coat  may  fit  an  ill-shaped  person.  Habits  of  thought  and 
action  fix  their  stamp  on  the  public  code;  the  faith,  the  prejudices,  the  hopes  of  a  people, 
may  be  read  there;  and,  as  knowledge  advances,  each  erroneous  judgment,  each  perverse 
enactment,  yields  to  the  embodied  force  of  the  common  will." — Bancroft. 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

I  N 

Historical   and   Political   Science 

HERBERT  B.  ADAMS,  Editor 


History  is  past  Politics  and  Politics  present  History.  —  Freeman 


XII 

LOCAL  GOVERNMENT 

A  N  D 

FREE  SCHOOLS 

I  N 

SOUTH  CAROLINA 

First  Pari  read  More  the  Historical  Society  of  South  Carolina,  December  15, 1882. 

By  B.  JAMES  RAMAGE,  A.  B. 


It  A  LT  I  M  (>  It  K 

Published  by  tiik  Johns  Hoi-kin."  L'nivkrsitt 

OCTUliKK,  ihh:». 


JOHN  MURPHY  A  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

(The  Parish,  the  District,  and  the  County). 


The  history  of  the  growth  of  local  government  in  the 
Southern  States  presents  characteristics  which  at  once  dis- 
tinguish our  local  unit  from  that  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
States.  In  the  South  the  county  is  the  centre  of  political  life. 
The  schools,  the  roads,  the  poor,  and  other  local  matters  are 
regulated  by  county  officers.  In  the  Eastern  States  and  in 
many  of  the  States  of  the  Northwest,  all  such  local  questions 
are  controlled  by  the  towns*  or  townships.  The  political  activ- 
ity of  Southern  communities  is,  therefore,  less  minutely  sub- 
divided than  elsewhere  in  the  United  States;  and,  as  a  con- 
sequence, there  is  more  centralization  in  the  management  of 
local  matters. 

This  great  difference  between  the  local  machinery  of  the 
two  sections  of  our  country  is,  at  first,  very  strange  to  the 
student  of  American  institutions.  And  when  he  recalls  the 
fact  that  the  early  settlers  of  Virginia  and  the  Carol inas  came 
from  tiie  same  land  as  did  the  early  settlers  of  Massachusetts 
and  Rhode  Island,  he  is,  perhaps,  even  more  impressed  with 
the  opposing  characteristics  of  the  local  institutions  of  the 
South  and  those  of  the  North.  The  causes  of  these  pecu- 
liarities are  many.  There  were  the  differences  between  the 
first  settlements  of  the  North  and  those  of  the  South,  and 

*  Tin'  term  "town  "  is  liable  to  mislead  those  who  are  only  acquainted 
with  the  use  of  the  word  to  express  th>'  idea  of  n  larger  collection  of  houses 
and  inhabitants  than  a  village.  In  the  North  the  term  is  synonymous 
with  township. 

0 


6  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

the  differences  between  the  settlers  themselves.  The  colonists 
of  the  North,  notably  those  of  New  England,  were  composed 
principally  of  religious  refugees,  united  by  the  bonds  of  a 
common  moral  idea.  Most  of  the  colonists  of  the  South  came 
over  simply  as  Englishmen  who  wished  to  better  their  con- 
dition. They  were  recruited  from  no  particular  rank  in 
society.  Churchman  and  dissenter,  cavalier  and  roundhead 
sat  about  the  same  camp  fire.  Massachusetts  was  a  colony ; 
South  Carolina,  a  province.  Compact  settlements  were  neces- 
sary on  the  one  hand  for  the  purpose  -of  protection  against 
foreign  and  domestic  enemies;  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining 
public  worship;  and  for  organizing  the  government  of  the 
infant  State.  The  partial  absence  of  any  of  these  causes  left 
it  wholly  to  the  choice  of  the  Southern  colonists  whether  they 
should  found  cities  or  settle  in  agricultural  communities.  Their 
patrons  shielded  them  from  the  incursions  of  the  red  men ; 
although  deeply  religious,  like  most  genuine  Englishmen,  they 
lacked  the  zeal  of  fresh  converts  to  a  new  creed ;  and  their 
government  was  in  a  large  measure  provided  for  them.  Dif- 
ference of  climate  tended  to  increase  the  difference  produced 
by  these  social  and  moral  causes.  The  rigors  of  the  Northern 
winters  enforced  the  growth  of  cities  and  thickly  settled  com- 
munities. The  mild  climate  of  the  South  favored  the  culti- 
vation of  the  soil  and  the  isolation  of  estates. 

There  are,  however,  more  points  of  resemblance  between 
the  beginnings  of  the  colonies  than  are  usually  supposed. 
There  are  similarities  of  political  structure  which  characterize 
not  only  all  English  settlements  of  this  country,  but  which 
reach  far  back  in  the  past  history  of  our  Teutonic  race.  By 
a  kind  of  political  atavism,  old  institutions  re-appear  in 
our  history,  now  clearly  and  definitely  outlined,  now  only 
faintly  resembling  their  Germanic  prototypes,  but  everywhere 
possessing  those  qualities  which  distinguish  the  polity  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  wherever  it  finds  a  home. 

Nowhere  can  this  divergence  from  an  original  identity  of 
political  structure  be  better  illustrated  than  in  the  develop- 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  7 

merit  of  local  government  in  South  Carolina.  The  economic 
and  social  peculiarities  of  this  State;  its  influence  on  other 
Southern  States;  and  the  successive  changes  which  its  consti- 
tution has  undergone,  make  it,  in  many  respects,  a  typical 
Southern  commonwealth.  It  happens,  that,  though  claimed 
by  the  Spaniards,  named  by  the  French,  and  settled  by  the 
English,  South  Carolina  is  an  English  colony  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  that  term ;  for,  from  England  South  Carolina  received 
her  people,  her  customs,  her  laws,  and  that  ancient  religious 
system  which  wove  itself  so  thoroughly  into  her  political 
texture  during  the  early  years  of  her  provincial  life. 

.By  their  charter,  the  proprietors  of  South  Carolina  were 
vested  with  great  powers  and  privileges.  These  noblemen 
seemed  to  have  cherished  the  idea  that  they  were  founding  a 
mighty  empire.  The  great  philosopher,  John  Locke,  who 
was  a  personal  friend  of  one  of  the  proprietors,  the  Earl  of 
Shaftesbury,  previously  known  as  Anthony  Ashley  Cooper, 
was  employed  to  frame  a  constitution  for  the  government  of 
the  future  province.  Locke  finished  his  labors  in  1669,  and 
presented  his  "Fundamental  Constitutions."  The  form  of 
government  was  amended  by  Shaftesbury.  These  funda- 
mental constitutions  had  for  their  object  the  better  govern- 
ment of  the  province,  and  were  adopted  in  order  "to  avoid 
erecting  a  numerous  democracy."*  The  province  was  erected 
into  a  county  palatine,  like  that  of  Durham.  The  eldest  of 
the  Lord  Proprietors  was  to  be  Palatine,  and,  at  his  death, 
the  eldest  of  the  seven  surviving  proprietors  was  to  be  his 
successor.  The  other  officers  were  admirals,  chamberlains, 
chancellors,  constables,  chief  justices,  high  stewards,  and 
treasurers.  The  whole  province  was  divided  into  counties. 
Each  county  consisted  of  eight  signiories,  eight  baronies,  and 
four  precincts,  each  precinct  consisting  of  four  colonics.  The 
eight  signiories  were  the  share  of  the  eight  proprietors,  and 
consisted  of  twelve  thousand  acres  each.     The  baronies  Ix'longed 

*  Pn'iimMr  of  tho  Fiinilamrntul  Constitution*. 


8  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

to  the  nobility  of  the  province,  and  also  consisted  of  twelve 
thousand  acres  each.  The  nobility  of  the  province  were  the 
"landgraves"  and  ^cassiques."  There  was  a  landgrave  for 
each  county,  and  twice  as  many  cassiques  as  landgraves.  In 
every  signiory,  barony,  and  manor,  its  respective  lord  had 
power  to  hold  a  court  leet  for  the  trial  of  civil  and  criminal 
cases.  Every  manor  consisted  of  not  less  than  three  thousand 
acres.  Every  lord  of  a  manor  enjoyed  the  same  powers, 
jurisdictions  and  privileges  which  appertained  to  a  landgrave 
or  cassique  in  his  baronies.  County  courts  were  erected  in 
each  county.  These  courts  were  composed  of  a  sheriff  and 
four  justices,  one  from  each  precinct.  There  were  also  pre- 
cinct-courts, each  of  which  consisted  of  a  steward  and  four 
justices  of  the  precinct.  Every  jury  consisted  of  twelve 
land  owners,  and  a  verdict  was  rendered  according  to  the 
consent  of  the  majority.* 

Such  in  brief  is  the  substance  of  this  remarkable  frame  of 
government.  It  never  went  wholly  into  operation  and  was 
abrogated  by  the  proprietors  in  1693.  It  is  chiefly  inter- 
esting as  showing  the  first  attempt  to  provide  a  system  of 
local  government  for  the  province.  But  time  and  experience 
illustrated  that  this  could  be  successfully  provided  for  only 
by  the  people  themselves.  The  early  methods  of  local  admin- 
istration in  the  province  are  wrapt  in  obscurity.  The,  early 
acts  of  the  provincial  parliament f  relative  to  the  manage- 
ment of  highways,  the  organization  of  the  militia,  the  raising 
of  revenues,  and  the  punishment  of  various  offenses  against 
law  and  morality,  are  not  now  to  be  found.  Only  their  titles 
have  been  preserved. 

One  of  these  old  laws,  the  title  of  which  is  frequently 
encountered,  reads  as  follows:  "At  a  Parliament  held  at 
Charlestowne,  at   the  house  of  Mr.  Anthony  Lawson,  the 


*  Charters  and  Constitutions  of  the  United  States,  part  2,  pp.  1397-1408. 
fThe  iirst  assembly  in  the  province  was  for  several  years  known  as  the 
Parliament. 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  9 

eighth  day  of  December,  1691,  Annoque  Regni  Regis  et 
Reginae  .  .  .  tertio.  An  Act  for  the  Better  Observance  of 
the  Lord's  Day,  commonly  called  Sunday.  Forasmuch  as 
there  is  nothing  more  acceptable  to  Almighty  God  than  the 
true  sincere  performance  of  and  obedience  to  the  most  divine 
service  and  worship,  which  although  at  all  times,  yet  chiefly 
upon  the  Lord's  Day,  commonly  called  Sunday,  ought  soe  to 
be  done,  but  instead  thereof  many  idle,  loose,  and  disorderly 
people  doe  wilfully  profane  the  same  in  tipling,  shooteing, 
gatneing,  and  many  other  vicious  exercises,  pastimes  and 
meetings,  whereby  ignorance  prevails  and  the  just  judgment 
of  Almighty  God  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  fall  upon 
this  land  if  the  same  by  some  good  orders  be  not  prevented  ; 
Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the  Pallatine  and  the  rest  of  the 
Lords  and  absolute  Proprietors  of  this  Province,  by  and  with 
the  consent  of  the  Commons  in  this  present  Parliament  assem- 
bled, and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the  same, 
that  from  and  after  the  ratification  hereof,  all  and  every  person 
and  persons  whatsoever  shall  on  every  Lord's  Day  apply 
themselves  to  the  observation  of  the  same,"*  etc.  This 
would  seem  to  argue  that  the  Puritans  were  not  the  only 
colonists  who  enforced  the  local  observance  of  the  Sabbath 
and  church  attendance. 

The  nearest  approach  to  any  system  of  local  government 
beyond  the  limits  of  municipalities  is  found  in  the  creation 
of  the  parishes.  The  parish  was,  of  course,  introduced  alter 
the  establishment  of  the  Episcopal  church.  But  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Episcopal  church  in  the  province  was  only 
brought  about  by  stealthy  innovations  and  in  the  face  of 
much  opposition.  In  1698  a  maintenance  was  settled  by  law 
on  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  England  at  Charlestown.f 
This  Act,  however,  did  not  encounter  serious  hostility  owing 
to  the  popularity  of  the  minister  and   the  small  sum   voted 


♦Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  II,  pp.  f)H  ami  69. 
+  Statutes  at  Large  of  Soutli  Carolina,  Vol.  II,  p.  l."."i. 


10  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

him.*  A  few  years  later,  in  1704,  through  the  influence  of 
the  proprietors  and  civil  officers,  the  Church  of  England 
secured  a  legal  establishment,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
the  Episcopalians  had  only  one  church  in  the  entire  province 
while  the  Dissenters  had  four.  In  this  year  a  majority  of 
representatives  were  sent  to  parliament  who  were  members  of 
the  Church  of  England. 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  provincial  parliament 
the  new  members  succeeded  in  passing  a  bill  which  virtually 
excluded  all  Dissenters  from  that  assembly.  But  this  oppres- 
sive measure  was  soon  afterwards  repealed.  The  Episcopa- 
lians, nevertheless,  continued  to  rule  the  province.  Laws 
were  passed  for  the  maintenance  of  ministers,  the  erection  of 
churches  and  chapels,  arid  the  division  of  the  counties  into 
parishes. f  The  parishes  were  of  various  sizes  and  in  1706 
their  bounds  were  definitely  set  by  law. 

The  principal  officers  of  the  parish  were  the  rector,  the 
vestrymen,  the  churchwardens,  the  overseers  of  the  poor, 
the  sexton,  the  clerk,  the  register,  and  the  commissioners  of 
roads.  At  the  head  of  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  parish  was 
the  rector.  During  his  ministration  he  could  enjoy  the  use 
of  the  glebe-lands,  the  buildings  of  the  parish  (except  one 
room  in  the  rector's  house  at  Charlestown,  which  was  reserved 
for  a  parochial  library),  all  the  negroes  that  belonged  to  the 
parish  with  their  increase,  and  the  parish  cattle  with  their 
increase.  He  also  received  a  salary  from  the  province  vary- 
ing in  amount  according  to  the  church.  The  rector  was 
chosen  by  the  parishioners,  but  a  vacancy  was  filled  by 
the  vestry  which  proceeded  to  an  immediate  election.  No 
rector  was  allowed   to    marry  parties  contrary  to  the  table 


*  Kamsay,  Vol.  IT,  pp.  2-10.  Also  for  a  very  excellent  history  of  the 
church  in  South  Carolina,  see  Dalcho's  Church  History. 

f  Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  II,  pp.  232-246.  Also 
Grinike'8  Collection  of  the  Public  Laws  of  South  Carolina,  pp.  11-12. 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  1 1 

of  marriages.  He  could  not  hold  a  seat  in  either  branch  of 
the  legislative  assembly.* 

The  duties  of  the  vestrymen  were  both  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical and  were  copied  from  the  duties  of  the  corresponding 
office  in  England.  In  the  words  of  the  law  describing  their 
qualifications  and  powers,  the  vestrymen  were  elected  for  the 
"  promotion  of  the  good  laws  of  the  Province  and  the  easy 
despatch  of  parish  business."!  They  were,  moreover,  to  be 
"sober  and  discreet  men."  Their  number,  besides  the  rector, 
was  at  first  nine  and  later  seven,  all  residents  of  the  parish. 
They  were  chosen  yearly  by  the  freeholders  and  taxpayers  of 
the  parish.  The  election  was  held  on  Easter  Monday  at  the 
parish  church.  The  parish  church  seems  to  have  been  both 
the  civil  and  religious  centre  for  transacting  local  affairs.  On 
the  doors  of  the  church  were  posted  all  important  public 
notices.  After  his  election  each  vestryman  was  required  to 
take  the  oath  of  office. 

-The  next  officer  in  the  parish  was  the  churchwarden.  There 
were  two  of  these  in  each  parish.  They  assisted  the  vestry- 
men in  keeping  the  parish  buildings  in  order.  In  conjunc- 
tion with  the  overseers  of  the  poor,  they  had  a  general  super- 
vision of  the  pauper  class  of  the  parish.  They  also  managed 
the  parochial  elections.  The  overseers  of  the  poor  were  yearly 
nominated  by  the  vestry.  Rich  people  having  poor  relatives 
were  compelled  to  assist  them.  The  poor  were  relieved  from 
various  public  monies  and  fines.  A  person  who,  in  moving 
from  one  parish  to  another,  might  become  a  pauper,  could  be 


*"Tlie  ministers  of  the  gospel  lire  by  their  profession  dedicated  t<>  the 
service  of  ( Jod  and  the  car-'  of  souls,  and  ought  not  to  be  diverted  from  tin- 
great  duties  of  tlieir  function,  therefore  no  minister  of  the  gospel  or  public 
preacher  of  any  kind  .  .  .  Bhall  be  eligible  either  as  governor,  lieutenant 
governor,  ;•  member  of  the  senate,  house  of  representatives  <>r  privy  coun- 
cil in  this  State."— Constitution  of  South  Carolina  of  177s,  section  XXI. 
This  disqualification  no  longer  exists. 

+  Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  II,  p.  '-"JO,  sections  XXV  111, 
XXIX,  XXX,  XXXI,  and  XXX11. 


12  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

returned  to  the  parish  whence  he  came.*  Poor  children  were 
hound  out  by  the  churchwardens  and  the  overseers  of  the 
poor.  A  register  was  kept  of  the  names  of  persons  receiving 
aid.  The  churchwardens  and  overseers  of  the  poor  were  to 
account  yearly  before  the  vestry  for  all  money  spent,  f  Neglect 
of  duty  was  punished  by  a  fine. 

The  sexton,  the  clerk,  and  the  register  of  births  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  vestry.  They  received  a  small  perquisite 
attached  to  their  office.  Parishioners  had  a  right  to  inspect 
the  records  of  the  parish  at  any  time  and  to  take  exceptions 
to  them,  if  they  thought  proper.  In  the  parish  register  were 
contained  all  the  deaths  and  christenings  of  parishioners, 
except  those  of  negroes,  mulattoes,  and  slaves. 

The  commissioners  of  the  roads  were  elected  by  the  free- 
holders of  their  respective  parishes.  In  1719,  the  parishes 
were  made  election  districts  and  each  parish  sent  representa- 
tives to  the  commons'  house  of  Assembly.     In  some  cases  two 


*  Public  Laws  of  South  Carolina,  p.  105,  Section  V. 

f  A  few  of  the  old  Kecords  and  Kegisters  of  the  parishes  are  still  in 
existence.  Through  the  kindness  of  the  Rev.  John  Johnson  of  Charles- 
ton, the  writer  was  permitted  to  have  access  to  some  of  the  Records  of 
the  old  parishes  of  Prince  Frederick's  and  St.  Thomas.  Some  of  these 
still  exist  in  a  remarkable  state  of  preservation,  while  others  are  fast  going 
to  decay.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  efforts  will  soon  be  made  to  have  these 
important  historical  materials  rescued  from  destruction.  It  may  not  be 
uninteresting  to  subjoin  one  or  two  extracts  from  these  Records,  kindly 
furnished  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Johnson. 

"  Complaint  made  that  the  widow  Hughes  a  poor  woman  living  near 
the  church  was  a  starving  she  and  children/  agreed  this  day  that  the 
Wardens  take  the  Two  Bjgest  Children  and  Put  them  out  apprentices  in 
creditable  houses  and  that  the  Widow  go  to  work  to  maintain  herself  and 
youDg  child  as  she  is  very  able  &  a  Great  deal  of  spinning  offered  her." — 
27  Sep  1777. 

"  Agreed  that  Margaret  Marten  shd.  be  allowed  £10  pounds  pr  week 
for  her  maintenance  and  cloathing  at  the  expense  of  John  McNight  her 
son."— 20  May  1779." 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  13 

parishes  united  in  sending  delegates.*  It  must  not  be  pre- 
sumed that  the  parishes,  when  first  created,  were  complete 
political  divisions  of  the  province.  Far  from  it.  Their 
importance  and  status  in  this  regard  were  acquired  years  after 
their  erection.  Their  growth  from  ecclesiastical  to  political 
divisions  was,  however,  gradual  and  sure.  From  a  territorial 
division  for  church  purposes,  they  slowly  passed  into  a  politi- 
cal division  possessing  many  of  the  attributes  of  a  self-gov- 
erning community. 

The  early  legislators  of  the  colony  were  deeply  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  local  education. f  So  dominant  was 
this  idea  that  it  had  much  to  do  with  the  establishment 
of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  province,  and  the  division 
of  the  counties  into  parishes  in  order  to  obtain  aid  from  the 
society  for  propagating  the  Gospel  in  foreign  parts.  This 
society,  which  was  established  in  the  mother  country,  only 
lent  its  aid  to  those  colonies  in  which  flourished  the  Episcopal 
church.  The  society  soon  seconded  the  efforts  of  the  colonial 
educators,  and  lent  its  aid  in  supplying  parish  ministers  and 
teachers.  Parochial  libraries  were  founded  and  parish  schools 
were  established,  at  first  under  the  immediate  control  of  the 
vestrymen. 

The  history  of  popular  education  in  South  Carolina  dates 
from  these  beginnings.     As  far  back  as  1712,  a  free  school 


♦Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  o0-56. 

By  the  provision  of  this  act,  the  parish  of  St.  Philip's,  Charlestown, 
sent  five  members  ;  Christ  Church,  two  ;  St.  John's,  three  ;  St.  Andrew's, 
three  ;  St.  George's,  two  ;  St.  James',  Goose  Creek,  four  ;  the  parishes  of 
St.  Thomas'  and  St.  Dennis',  three;  the  parish  of  St.  Paul's,  four;  St. 
Bartholomew,  four;  St.  Helena,  four;  and  St.  James',  San  tee,  with  Win- 
yaw,  two. 

f  No  view  is  more  erroneous  than  that  which  represents  the  lack  of 
educational  facilities  in  South  Carolina  during  colonial  days.  Mr. 
McMaster,  in  his  recent  work  on  the  History  of  the  People  of  tho 
United  States,  says  that  in  no  colony  was  so  little  attention  paid  to  edu- 
cation as  in  South  Carolina.  It  is  pleasant  to  note  the  letter  of  Colonel 
Edward  McCrady,  Jr.,  of  the  South  Carolina  Historical  Society,  in  the 
yation,  July  ~>,  18H3,  disproving  Mr.  McMaster  s  statement. 


14  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

was  established  in  Charleston.  Similar  institutions  were 
planted  at  Dorchester,  Childsbury,  Beaufort,  Ninety-Six,  St. 
Thomas'  Parish,  St.  James  (Santee)  and  elsewhere.  Many  of 
these  schools  owe  their  origin  to  legacies  bequeathed  them  by 
generous  parishioners,  like  Beresford,  Ludlam,  Childs,  and 
others.  With  the  growth  of  primary  education,  the  demand 
for  the  higher  education  increased,  resulting  in  the  establish- 
ment of  several  academies  and  no  less  than  five  colleges  before 
the  expiration  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Many  charitable 
societies  also  maintained  schools,  usually  for  the  education  of 
the  poor.  Constant  public  encouragement  was  given  to  edu- 
cation by  donations,  immunities,  and  by  vesting,  in  school 
boards,  escheated  property  in  villages  or  parishes.  In  some 
cases,  especially  during  early  times,  even  slaves  were  taught 
to  read.*  The  parishes  were  confined  to  that  portion  of  the 
State  which  was  first  settled  —  the  region  near  the  coast — 
but  they  gradually  increased  in  number. 

In  some  instances  plans  for  settling  new  parishes  were  based 
on  the  hundred.  The  method  is  thus  described  by  Ramsay  :f 
"According  to  a  new  plan,  adopted  in  England,  for  the  more 
speedy  population  and  settlement  of  the  province,  the  gov- 
ernor had  instructions  to  mark  out  eleven  townships  in  square 
plats  on  the  sides  of  rivers,  consisting  each  of  twenty  thousand 
acres;  and  to  divide  the  land  within  them  into  shares  of  fifty 
acres  for  each  man,  woman,  and  child  that  should  come  to 
occupy  and  improve  them.  Each  township  was  to  form  a 
parish,  and  all  the  inhabitants  were  to  have  an  equal  right  to 
the  river.  So  soon  as  the  parish  should  increase  to  the  number 
of  an  hundred  families  they  were  to  have  a  right  to  send  two 
members,  of  their  own  election,  to  the  assembly,  and  to  enjoy 
the  same  privileges  as  the  other  parishes,  already  established. 
Each  settler  was  to  pay  four  shillings  a  year  for  every  hun- 


*  Carroll's  Historical  Collections  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  II,  pp.  538- 
568. 

f  History  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  1,  pp.  108-109. 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  15 

dred  acres  of  land,  except  the  first  ten  years,  during;  which 
term  they  were  to  he  rent  free.  Accordingly  ten  townships 
were  marked  out,  two  on  river  Altamaha,  two  on  Savannah, 
two  on  Santee,  one  on  Pedee,  one  on  Wacamaw,  one  on 
Wateree,  and  one  on  Black  river." 

Contemporary  with  the  adoption  of  the  parish  system  was 
the  creation  of  the  patrol.*  It  was  a  sort  of  police  of  the 
parishes.  Its  objects  and  functions  are  best  set  forth  in  the 
preamble  to  the  Act  establishing  it,  passed  November  4,  17<)J. 
The  Act  is  entitled  "An  Act  to  settle  a  Patrol."  f  It  tlm* 
states  the  object  of  the  patrol :  "  Whereas  on  the  sight  or 
advice  of  an  enemy  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  safety  and 
defence  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  Collony  to  draw  together 
to  the  sea  coast,  or  such  other  place  as  the  General  1  shall 
direct,  all  the  forces  thereof;  to  prevent  such  insurrections 
and  mischiefs  as  from  the  great  number  of  slaves  we  have 
reason  to  suspect  may  happen  when  the  greater  part  of  the 
inhabitants  are  drawn  together,"  etc.  In  the  early  days  of* 
the  province,  constant  petty  expeditions  were  fitted  out  by  the 
Spaniards  from  Saint  Augustine  against  Charleston,  and,  in 
retaliation,  by  Charleston  against  Saint  Augustine.  Soldiers 
were  therefore  kept  constantly  employed  in  defending  the 
coast.  The  large  number  of  slaves  in  the  province  made  it 
extremely  dangerous  to  leave  the  wives  and  children  of  the 
soldiers  unprotected  from  servile  insurrection.  The  patrol 
was  therefore,  in  its  inception,  a  homeguard.  Its  organiza- 
tion, with  some  modifications,  lasted  through  the  lights  and 
shadows  of  almost  two  centuries  of  slavery.  The  patrol  pro- 
vided themselves  with  horses,  pistols,  and  guns,  and  were 
ready  to  appear  on  duty  at  any  alarm.      Under  the  direction 


•According  to  Skcat,  the  word  pntrol  is  from  the  old  French  verb 
patrouiller,  to  puddle.  There  is  no  connection,  however,  between  the 
word  and  the  peculiar  method  of  corporal  punishment  which  it  suggest.*. 
The  verb  is  formed  from  the  noun  patte,  the  pnw  or  foot  of  a  beast,  :ucl 
hence  it  came  to  mean  a  g<nng  of  the  rounds. 

f  Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  II,  pp.  '_'M  *_'•'. V 


16  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.. 

of  their  captain,  they  rode  from  plantation  to  plantation  and 
arrested  all  slaves  on  the  road  who  were  found  without  a  pass 
from  their  owner.  The  student  of  English  constitutional 
history  will  not  be  slow  to  recognize  in  the  patrol  the  straet- 
warden  of  the  king's  highway.  Like  its  old  English  proto- 
type, the  patrol  could  not  maltreat  a  prisoner,  and  was, 
moreover,  answerable  before  the  law  for  good  behavior. 

From  what  has  previously  been  said  it  will  be  inferred  that 
the  parish  of  South  Carolina  is  of  English  and  not  of  French 
origin,  as  is  often  stated.     The  parish  of  South  Carolina  and 
the  parish  of  Louisiana  are  radically  different.    The  Louisiana 
parish  corresponds  to  the  county  in  other  States.     The  South 
Carolina  parish  was  a  subdivision  of  the  county,  and  in  char- 
acter more  nearly  approached   the   Northern   and  Western 
township.     It  is  true  that,  after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  large  numbers  of  Huguenot  refugees  came  over  to 
the  province.     A  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  parishes 
of  St.  Dennis,  in  the  Orange  quarter,  and  St.  James,  on  the 
Santee,  was  composed  of  French  settlers.     But  they  did  not 
arrive  until  the  English  were  firmly  established  elsewhere  in 
the  Carolinas.     Besides,  the  English  were  too  jealous  of  the 
French  to  allow  them  any  influence  at  all,  and  for  a  while 
excluded  them  from  the  legislature.     This  spirit  of  intoler- 
ance in  time  passed    away.      The  proprietary  government, 
having  become  burdensome  to  the  people,  was  overthrown  in 
1719,  and  the  people  put  themselves  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  King.     The  parishes  continued  to  extend  their  organ- 
ization.    Charleston  remained  the  centre  of  political  power. 
Here  was  the  provost  marshal,  or  sheriff  of  all  the  province, 
and  here  also,  for  a  long  time,  was  held  the  only  court.     But 
a  change  was  destined  to  ensue.    Already  the  division  between 
North  and  South  Carolina  had  taken  place.*     The  colony 
was  soon  to  become  the  seat  of  a  struggle  between  two  oppos- 


*The  division  was  formally  made  about  1729,  but  it  had  practically 
existed  many  years  before. 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  17 

ing  systems  of  local  government.  One  of  these  systems  rep- 
resented the  old  Teutonic  idea  of  the  township  as  it  was 
afterwards  merged  into  the  parish ;  the  other  was  the  later 
county  system.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  two  systems  of 
local  government  which  have  struggled  for  the  mastery  in 
this  country,  should  have  so  early  encountered  each  other 
in  South  Carolina. 

The  District. 

Until  near  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  inhabited 
portion  of  South  Carolina  was  confined  to  the  parishes  which 
fringed  the  coast.  After  the  overthrow  of  the  proprietary 
government  and  under  the  more  immediate  management  of 
the  Crown,  a  steady  stream  of  immigration  poured  in  from 
the  old  country.  The  new  comers  were  principally  composed 
of  English,  French,  and  Irish,  with  a  few  Scotch,  all  of  whom 
settled  in  the  parishes.  At  the  same  time,  the  northern  portion 
of  the  colony  was  rapidly  settled  by  an  entirely  different  class 
of  people,  colonists  from  the  present  Middle  States,  from 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  The  settlements  of  these 
sturdy  pioneers  were  confined  to  the  mountain  regions  and 
to  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  interior.  A  wide  space  of  inter- 
vening territory  separated  them  from  the  inhabitants  of  the 
parishes.  The  sections  of  the  colony  became,  to  all  practical 
purposes,  two  distinct  colonies.  This  was  most  unfortunate 
and  became  the  seed  of  much  discontent  in  after  years.*  The 
lower  section  was  rich,  strong,  and  powerful.  It  possessed 
some  good  schools,  many  intelligent  men,  and  an  attempt  at 
local  government.  In  its  constitution  and  character  it  ap- 
proached the  colonics  of  New  England  and  Virginia.  The 
upper  section  more  nearly  resembled  a  Western  territory  of  the 


•Indeed  tho  local  disputes  between  the  "  up  country  "  and  the  "low 
country  "  still  survive  in  many  instances,  though  not  with  the  patno  degree 

of  animosity  as  in  former  time-. 

a  " 


18  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

present  time.  It  was  largely  composed  of  rough  pioneers, 
who,  dissatisfied  with  their  condition  in  the  older  colonies, 
had  removed  to  this  unexplored  portion  of  South  Carolina. 

Some  effort  was  made  as  early  as  1725  to  establish  county 
and  precinct  courts,  but  the  general  court  in  Charleston  soon 
absorbed  all  judiciary  proceedings.*  For  many  years  there 
was  but  one  sheriff  for  the  whole  colony,  and  he  held  his 
office  by  patent  from  the  Crown.  He  was  subjected  to  the 
same  penalties  as  a  sheriff  in  England.  At  this  time  all  civil 
and  criminal  cases  were  tried  in  Charleston  by  the  general 
court.  The  justices  of  the  peace  could  have  no  jurisdiction 
in  any  cause  which  involved  more  than  twenty  pounds.  A 
court  of  chancery,  consisting  of  the  governor  and  a  majority 
of  the  council,  had  been  established  in  1721. f  There  were 
also  two  other  courts:  a  court  of  the  King's  bench  and 
common  pleas,  and  a  court  of  vice  admiralty.  But  the  gen- 
eral court  at  Charleston  was  the  most  powerful  judicial  assem- 
bly of  the  colony.  All  criminal,  as  well  as  all  civil  cases, 
were  tried  in  this  court,  a  fact  which  necessarily,  produced 
much  inconvenience  and  disorder.  To  punish  a  horse-thief 
or  prosecute  a  debtor  one  was  sometimes  compelled  to  travel 
a  distance  of  several  hundred  miles,  and  be  subjected  to  all  of 
the  dangers  and  delays  incident  to  a  wild  country.  For  the 
purpose  of  expediting  the  administration  of  justice  and  of 
summarily  punishing  criminals,  the  settlers  began  to  organize 
themselves  into  bands  and,  under  the  name  of  "regulators," 
endeavored  to  control  local  affairs.  Alarmed  at  these  pro- 
ceedings, the  colonial  government  manifested  some  disposi- 
tion to  improve  the  condition  of  the  colonists  of  the  upper 
section. 

In  the  preamble  to  an  Act  entitled  "an  Act  for  establish- 
ing Courts,  building  Gaols  and  appointing  Sheriffs  and  other 
officers  for  the  more  "convenient  administration  of  justice  in 


*  Brevard's  Digest,  Vol.  I,  pp.  v-xx.     Ramsay,  Vol.  II,  pp.  125-159. 
f  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  284. 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  19 

this  Province,"*  passed  in  1768,  the  Assembly  th us  organ- 
izes the  defective  system  of  government  for  the  up-country: 
"whereas,  the  establishing  courts,  building  gaols,  and  appoint- 
ing sheriffs  in  different  parts  of  this  Province,  under  proper 
regulations,  will  tend  to  promote  the  interests  of  our  most 
glorious  Sovereign  and  his  good  subjects  therein,  also  to  pre- 
serve their  just  rights,  liberties  and  properties  and  the  public 
peace,  inasmuch  as  the  distance  from  Charleston  of  many 
persons  who,  however  remote  from  thence,  are  often  obliged, 
either  as  parties,  jurors  or  witnesses,  to  attend  the  courts  at 
present  held  there  for  trial  of  all  criminal  causes  and  of  all 
civil  actions  exceeding  the  value  of  twenty  pounds  current 
money  .  .  .  which  hardships  deter  numbers  of  people  from 
becoming  inhabitants  of  this  Province,  etc."  The  Assembly 
then  proceeded  to  create  new  district  courts  at  Beaufort, 
Georgetown,  Cheraws,  Camden,  Orangeburgh  and  Ninety-Six. 
The  title  of  provost  marshal  was  purchased  from  its  holder 
for  the  sum  of  <£5,000  sterling,  and  seven  new  sheriffs  were 
appointed,  one  for  each  new  district  and  one  for  Charleston."}" 

The  courts  held  in  Charleston  were  not  Circuit  Courts. 
Brevard  regards  them  in  the  same  light  as  "the  Courts  of 
Westminster  Hall  in  England."  In  the  new  Circuit  Courts 
the  judges  could  render  a  decision,  in  some  small  oases,  with- 
out a  jury,  provided  both  litigants  agreed  to  this  summary 
method  of  settling  their  dispute.  The  right  to  a  trial  by 
jury,  however,  was  not  denied.  The  creation  of  the  district 
courts  and  of  tin;  district  was  the  historic  origin  of  local  gov- 
ernment in  the  up-country,  although  the  inhabitants  of  the 
district  did  not  even  possess  the  right  of  electing  their  own 
sheriff. 

Owing  to  the  vast  size  of  the  district,  the  same  evils  that 
had  been  experienced  under  the  old  judicial  system  began 
to  make    themselves  felt    with    the    increase    of    population. 


*  Statutes  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  VII  ,  M)7-20.r>. 
f  Ha  in  say. 


20  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

Accordingly,  steps  were  soon  taken  to  improve  further  the 
administration  of  the  judiciary  by  decreasing  the  size  of  the 
districts.  It  was  now  that  the  constitutions  of  the  older 
colonies  began  to  exert  their  influence  on  South  Carolina. 
The  General  Assembly,  at  its  session  in  1783,  considered  the 
propriety  of  dividing  the  districts  "into  counties  of  con- 
venient size,  of  not  more  than  forty  miles  square,  unless 
where  the  number  of  inhabitants  and  situation  of  the  lands 
require  some  deviation."*  Commissioners  were  appointed  for 
each  district,  whose  duty  it  was  to  "fix  and  ascertain"  the 
boundary  lines  of  each  district  and  county.  Two  years  later, 
in  1785,  the  districts  were  divided  into  thirty-four  counties, 
as  follows :  Ninety-Six  into  the  counties  of  Abbeville, 
Edgefield,  Newberry,  Laurens,  Union  and  Spartanburgh ; 
Camden  district  into  the  counties  of  Clarendon,  Richland, 
Fairfield,  Clareraont,  Lancaster,  York,  (new  acquisition)  and 
Chester  ;f  Cheraws  into  Marlborough,  Chesterfield  and 
Darlington ;  Georgetown  into  Winyaw,  Williamsburgh, 
Kingston  and  Liberty;  Charleston  into  Charleston,  Wash- 
ington, Marion,  Berkeley,  Bartholomew  and  Colleton  ;  Beau- 
fort into  Hilton,  Lincoln,  Granville  and  Shrewsberry  ;  and 
finally  Orangeburgh  district  was  divided  into  Lewisburgh, 
Orange,  Lexington  and  Winton  counties.  J 

The  county  system  was  introduced  through  the  influence 
of  Henry  Pendleton,  a  settler  from  Virginia,  and  was  closely 
modeled  after  the  county  system  of  that  colony.  ||  Seven 
Justices  of  the  Peace  were  elected  for  each  county  by  the 
General  Assembly,  and  court  was  held  by  them  every  three 
months.  §  They  held  their  office  during  good  behavior,  and 
filled  all  vacancies  in  their  number  by  co-optation.     Three 


♦Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  561. 

fThe  influence  of  Pennsylvania  is  seen  in  the  names  of  the  counties. 

J  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  G61-664. 

||  Ramsay. 

gO'Neall's  Annals  of  Newberry  District,  pp.  12-22. 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  21 

of  the  justices  constituted  a  quorum.  The  county  courts 
never  extended  to  the  parishes.  The  Episcopal  Church  ceased 
to  be  the  established  church  of  South  Carolina  when  the 
British  government  in  America  was  overthrown  by  the 
war  for  independence.  The  parish  system,  however,  was 
still  retained  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  low-country.  All  the 
political  power  and  patronage  were  still  wielded  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  parishes,  and  the  up-country  possessed  no  influence 
whatever.  By  the  constitution  of  1776,  the  low-country  was 
allowed  twice  the  number  of  representatives  enjoyed  by  the 
up-country,  though  the  latter  was  perhaps  the  more  populous. 
This  privilege  produced  much  dissatisfaction. 

After  an  experiment  of  a  few  years,  the  county  system  and 
the  county  courts  were  abolished.  The  name  of  "district" 
was  substituted  for  that  of  "county,"  and  this  form  was 
preserved  until  after  the  close  of  the  civil  war.  With  the 
increase  of  population  and  education,  the  districts  gained  the 
privilege  of  electing  some  of  their  own  local  officers,  such  as 
sheriffs  and  clerks  of  courts.  The  general  economy  of  the 
district  differed  little  from  that  of  the  county  in  other  States, 
with  the  exception  of  the  absence  of  a  district  court.  The 
districts  were  grouped  into  judicial  circuits,  and  the  circuit 
judge  traveled  from  one  court  of  his  circuit  to  another. 

The  manifest  injustice  in  the  distribution  of  the  power  and 
representation  of  the  State  continued  to  produce  much  dis- 
satisfaction in  the  up-country.  By  the  constitution  of  I7i)0 
the  cause  of  contention  was  in  a  measure  adjusted.  Each 
district  was  allowed  one  senator  and  two  or  three  representa- 
tives. But  even  this  concession  on  the  part  of  the  low-coun- 
try was  far  from  being  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  districts,  for  it  still  left  them  with  a  minority  represen- 
tation, though  possessing  a  much  larger  population.  Each 
parish  was  allowed  to  send  a  senator  to  the  assembly,  and 
Charleston  was  allowed  to  send  two,  one  for  each  of  the 
parishes  of  Saint  Philip  and  Saint  Michael.     Kaeh  parish  also 


22  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

sent  two  or  more  representatives  to  the  assembly.*  The 
parishes  steadily  opposed  any  increase  of  power  on  the  part 
of  the  districts.  The  districts  were  equally  determined  to 
secure  a  more  equitable  apportionment  of  representation  and 
a  more  equal  share  in  the  government.  Again  and  again 
unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  to  effect  a  harmonious  set- 
tlement of  the  dispute.  The  capital  was  in  time  moved  from 
Charleston  to  the  new  town  of  Columbia  in  the  interior,  f 
By  an  amendment  to  the  constitution,  in  1808,  the  house  of 
representatives  was  made  to  consist  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four  members,  half  of  whom  represented  the  white 
population  and  half  the  taxables.|  The  constitution  of  the 
senate  remained  unchanged.  The  senate  was  therefore  con- 
trolled by  the  low-country  and  the  house  of  representatives 
by  the  up-country.  As  the  governor,  the  judges,  and  all  other 
important  officers  were  appointed  by  the  assembly,  the  pro- 
visions of  this  amendment  were  readily  accepted  by  both 
sections  of  the  State.  A  sort  of  double  government  was 
instituted.  Part  of  the  public  officers  resided  in  Charleston 
and  part  in  Columbia.  There  was  a  treasurer  for  the  low- 
country  and  one  also  for  the  up-country,  and,  with  very  few 
modications,  this  system  was  preserved  until  after  the  close  of 
the  civil  war.  The  organization  of  the  district  was  preserved 
in  the  up-country  and  that  of  the  parish  in  the  low-country. 
After  the  close  of  the  civil  war,  in  obedience  to  the  procla- 
mation of  President  Johnson  and  the  orders  of  Provisional 
Governor  Perry,  a  convention  of  the  people  of  South  Carolina 
assembled  in  Columbia  September  13,  1865,  to  re-organize 
the  State  government.  The  ordinance  of  secession  was  re- 
pealed and  a  new  constitution  adopted.  Many  of  the  changes 
in    the   constitution    and  improvements  in    the   methods   of 

♦Constitution  of  1790.  Article  I.,  sections  3-8. 

fThe  act  for  laying  off  the  town  of  Columbia  and  erecting  the  new 
State  buildings  therein  was  passed  by  the  assembly  March  22,  1786.  See 
Statutes  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  751-7G2. 

X  Amendment  of  1808.     Also  Calhoun,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  402-406. 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  23 

local  government  were  suggested  by  Governor  Perry  in  his 
message  to  the  convention.*  "  The  great  political  convulsions 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  Southern  States,"  said  he  in 
his  message  to  the  convention,  "and  the  terrific  war  which 
has  swept  over  South  Carolina,  devastating  her  territory  and 
depriving  her  citizens  of  all  civil  government,  are  too  well 
known  to  you,  and  too  painful  in  their  detail,  for  me  to  bring 
them  unnecessarily  in  review  before  you.  Instead  of  dwelling 
on  the  past,  and  grieving  over  its  errors  and  misfortunes,  let 
us,  with  manly  fortitude,  look  to  the  future,  and  accommodate 
ourselves  to  the  circumstances  which  surround  us,  and  which 
cannot  be  changed  or  avoided.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  has  manifested  a  generous  and  patriotic  solicitude  for 
the  restoration  of  the  Southern  States  to  all  their  civil  and 
political  rights,  under  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States.  He  desires  to  see  the  Federal  Union  reconstructed  as 
it  was  before  the  secession  of  those  States;  and  he  will  oppose 
the  centralization  of  power  in  Congress,  and  the  infringement 
of  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  States,  with  the  same  zeal, 
energy  and  power  with  which  lie  resisted  the  assumed  right 
of  secession  on  the  part  of  the  States.  In  order  to  accomplish 
this  re-union  of  the  States,  the  President  desires  that  South 
Carolina,  as  well  as  all  the  other  States  in  rebellion,  should 
accept  as  inevitable  and  unavoidable  the  great  final  results  of 
the  war." 

The  parishes  were  abolished  and  the  district  system  was 
extended  to  the  low  country.  The  triumph  of  the  district 
over  the  parish  was  complete  when  Charleston  district,  instead 
of  the  parish's  of  Charleston,  sent  its  delegation  to  the  assem- 
bly. Boundaries  of  the  judicial  and  election  districts  remained 
unchanged.  The  semi-duplicate  form  of  State  government 
was  abolished  and  provision  was  made  for  only  one  treasurer 
with  his  office  at  Columbia.  Slavery  was  forever  prohibited 
in  the  State;  the  "freedmen,"  however,  were  not  enfranchised. 


*  Message  Nu.  I,  Journal  of  the  Convention,  pp.  11-19. 


24  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

Governor  Perry  thus  speaks  of  the  aristocratic  character  of 
the  government  of  South  Carolina:  "The  general  assembly 
of  South  Carolina  is  an  electoral  college  for  the  State  as  well 
as  a  legislative  body.'  They  have  the  election  of  Governor, 
electors  of  President  and  Vice-President,  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor, United  States  Senators,  Judges  and  Chancellors,  all 
State  officers,  Magistrates,  Commissioners  of  Roads  and 
Bridges,  Poor  and  Free  Schools,  Commissioners  and  Masters 
in  equity,  and  various  other  officers.  This  embarrasses  legis- 
lation, occupies  a  great  deal  of  the  time  of  members,  and  is 
productive  of  evil  consequences.  The  most  of  these  elections 
and  appointments  should  be  taken  from  the  legislature."  * 

Acting  upon  this  wise  suggestion,  the  power  of  the  legisla- 
ture was  greatly  diminished.  Many  of  the  officers  who  had 
formerly  been  appointed  by  the  legislature  were  made  elective. 
Local  government  was  also  greatly  increased.  The  period 
embraced  by  the  operation  of  this  constitution  is,  however,  so 
short  and  so  full  of  the  anarchy  and  disorders  engendered  by 
the  great  civil  conflict  as  to  be  almost  devoid  of  any  local 
government. 

The  County. 

The  county  system  is  the  present  system  of  local  govern- 
ment for  the  whole  State  of  South  Carolina.  By  the  consti- 
tution of  1868,  commonly  known  as  the  reconstruction  con- 
stitution, the  district  was  abolished  and  the  county  erected  in 
its  stead.f    Various  amendments  have  been  made  to  the  con- 


•Journal  of  Convention  of  1865,  page  15. 

fThis  constitution  was  framed  by  a  convention  (called  under  the 
reconstruction  acts  of  Congress  by  Major-General  Canby).  It  assembled 
at  Charleston,  January  14,  1868,  and  completed  its  labor  March  17,  1868. 
The  constitution  was  submitted  to  the  people  April  14  and  16, 1868,  and  was 
ratified  by  70,000  against  27,288  votes.  It  may  further  be  added  that  the 
"  freedmen,"  who  voted  at  the  election,  were  unanimously  in  favor  of  the 
constitute.     See  Charters  and  Constitutions,  Part  II.,  p.  1646. 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  25 

stitution  since  that  time,  especially  since  the  overthrow  of 
the  reconstruction  government,  but  the  main  features  of  the 
county  system  remain  the  same  now  as  when  first  adopted. 
Without  commenting  on  the  particulars  of  these  changes,  it 
may  be  best  .to  give  some  account  of  the  operations  of  the 
county  system  in  the  State;  to  enumerate  the  officers  and 
their  respective  duties,  and  briefly  to  describe  the  other  char- 
acteristics of  local  government  as  it  exists  in  South  Carolina 
at  the  present  day. 

The  entire  State  is  divided  into  thirty-four  counties,  which 
are  bodies  politic  and  corporate,  and  can  sue  and  be  sued.* 
They  also  possess  many  other  rights  which  are  usually 
enjoyed  by  corporate  bodies.  Each  county,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Charleston,  sends  one  senator  to  the  State  Senate.  In 
Charleston  there  still  remains  a  faint  survival  —  more  tradi- 
tional than  real  —  of  the  old  parish  system.  That  county 
is,  therefore,  entitled  to  two  senators,  one  for  each  of  the  old 
parishes  of  St.  Philip's  and  St.  Michael's.  The  present  house 
of  representatives  consists  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
members,  who  are  apportioned  among  the  several  counties 
according  to  the  population  in  each.  Some  counties  send 
to  the  house  of  representatives  two,  others  five,  and  Charles- 
ton as  many  as  eighteen  members.  Both  senators  and 
representatives  are  elected  by  the  qualified  voters  of  the 
county,  and  each  receives  a  salary  of  five  dollars  per  diem 
during  a  session  of  the  assembly.  They  are  also  entitled 
to  mileage  at  the  rate  of  ten  cents  a  mile  for  the  distance 
travelled  in  going  to  and  from  the  meetings  of  the  assembly. 
A  senator  serves  for  four  years  and  a  representative  two  years. 
The  following  officers  are  also  elected  by  the  people :  a 
sheriff,  a  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  General 
Sessions,  a  judge  of  probate,  a  school  commissioner,  three 
countv  commissioners  and  a  coroner. 


•General  Statutes  of  South  Carolina,  1882,  pp.  18l»-82(5 
4 


26  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

Except  the  municipalities,  there  is  no  political  division  of 
the  State  beyond  the  county.  The  towqahip  exists  barely  in 
name.  There  is  no  assembly  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  county 
for  the  discussion  of  local  business.  The  county  commis- 
sioners have  jurisdiction  over  all  roads,  ferries  and  bridges. 
These  commissioners  also  control  all  matters  relating  to  taxes, 
disbursements  of  money  for  county  purposes,  and  all  other 
business  pertaining  to  the  internal  improvement  and  local 
concerns  of  the  county.  Each  township  constitutes  a  highway 
district,  the  superintendent  of  which  is  appointed  by  the 
county  commissioners.  Each  highway  district  is  expected  by 
law  to  be  divided  into  sections  of  from  two  to  five  miles,  and 
in  each  section  an  overseer  of  roads  is  required  to  be  appointed 
by  the  superintendent  of  highways.  All  able  bodied  men 
between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  fifty  years  are  liable  to  road 
duty.  They  must  work  on  the  roads  not  more  than  twelve 
nor  less  than  three  days  yearly,  or  instead  pay  one  dollar  a 
day  for  each  day  required.  In  every  county  there  is  provided 
a  poor  house,  with  a  farm,  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
pauper  class.  The  county  commissioners  are  the  overseers  of 
the  poor,  and  provide  employment  and  comfort  for  the  inmates 
of  the  poor  house.  The  commissioners  bind  out  poor  chil- 
dren, and  may  also  send  all  pauper  lunatics,  idiots,  and 
epileptics  to  the  State  lunatic  asylum. 

The  school  commissioner  has  a  general  oversight  of  the 
free  schools  in  his  county.  The  city  of  Charleston  constitutes 
an  exception,  having  her  own  superintendent  of  schools.  The 
school  commissioner  and  two  other  persons  appointed  by  the 
State  board  of  examiners  constituted  county  board  of  exami- 
nation, and  examine  all  applicants  for  teachers'  positions. 
In  each  school-district  three  men  are  appointed  by  the  county 
board  of  examiners,  who  constitute  the  trustees  of  the  district. 
An  annual  tax  of  two  mills  is  levied  by  the  county  commis- 
sioners for  the  support  of  free  schools.  The  money  raised  by 
the  tax  is  distributed  among  the  school  districts  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  pupils  attending  the  free  schools. 


Local  Government  in  South  Carolina.  27 

The  county  in  South  Carolina  differs  from  the  county  in 
many  other  States  from  the  fact  that  it  possesses  no  judicial 
organization  of  its  own.  We  have  already  seen  that  two 
unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  to  introduce  the  county 
courts  into  the  State  in  early  times.  But  the  system  failed 
from  various  causes.  The  counties,  like  their  institutional 
predecessor,  the  district,  are  grouped  into  judicial  circuits, 
and  a  judge  is  elected  by  the  legislature  for  each  circuit.  In 
each  circuit  there  is  also  a  solicitor,  who  is  elected  by  the 
qualified  voters  of  the  circuit.  The  governor,  with  the  advice 
of  the  senate,  appoints  a  number  of  trial  justices  for  each 
county.  Their  number  depends  entirely  upon  the  demands 
of  the  county.  The  justices  hold  their  office  for  two  years 
and  have  jurisdiction  over  offenses  in  which  fine  or  forfeiture 
is  under  one  hundred  dollars  and  imprisonment  is  less  than 
thirty  days.     Trial  justices  appoint  their  own  constables. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  court  of  the  probate  judge  is  very 
limited  in  character.  It  only  extends  to  those  matters  testa- 
mentary and  administrative  which  cannot  be  conveniently 
decided  in  the  other  courts.  It  also  has  jurisdiction  over  all 
business  pertaining  to  minors  and  the  allotment  of  dower, 
and  in  cases  of  larceny.  The  following  county  officers  are 
appointed  by  the  governor :  the  auditor,  the  treasurer  and  the 
master  in  equity.  The  present  system  of  local  government  is 
far  from  being  a  satisfactory  one  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
State.  Many  of  the  counties  are  very  large,  which  makes  it 
exceedingly  inconvenient  to  those  who  live  at  a  great  distance 
from  the  county  seat.  The  results  are  bad  roads,  worse  bridges, 
and  an  imperfect  system  of  free  schools  —  a  system  which 
lacks  the  stimulating  support  of  local  taxation. 

There  is  a  growing  demand  for  an  improved  system  of 
local  administration.  This  desire  manifests  itself  in  various 
ways,  although  a  constitutional  amendment  looking  towards 
the  reduction  of  the  size  of  the  counties  was  lately  de- 
feated. A  step  in  the  ri<j;lit  direction  was  taken  by  Governor 
Thompson,  in  his  inaugural  address,  where  he  strongly  advo- 


28  Local  Government  in  South  Carolina. 

cates  local  taxation  for  the  support  of  the  free  school  system.* 
A  bill  looking  to  that  end  was  rejected  in  the  senate  in  1882. 
No  better  comment  upon  the  rejection  of  this  measure  can  be 
made  than  that  already  expressed  by  the  Charleston  News 
and  Courier:  "It  was  a  mistake,  we  think,  to  reject  the 
senate  bill  permitting  the  levying  of  local  taxes  for  educa- 
tional purposes  to  supplement  the  proceeds  of  the  State  tax. 
The  general  tax  cannot  be  increased.  It  is  as  high  as  the 
people  can  bear,  but  each  locality,  knowing  its  own  needs 
and  its  own  ability,  should  be  free  to  raise  an  additional  fund 
under  authority  of  law  if  it  desired  to  do  so."  f 

The  future  development  of  local  government  in  the  State 
will  be  in  the  direction  of  local  support  of  the  free  schools. 
Local  control  will  follow  close  upon  local  support.  In  other 
words,  the  school  house  will  be  for  the  new  South  Carolina 
what  the  church  was  for  old  South  Carolina  and  for  New 
England,  namely,  the  parent  of  local  self-government.  When 
once  the  advantages  of  local  support  for  schools  are  seen  in 
the  greatly  improved  condition  of  southern  education,  the 
system  will  extend  to  the  local  control  of  the  poor,  the  roads, 
the  bridges,  and  all  other  common  affairs  now  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  townships  throughout  the  West. 

Such  is  the  outlook  for  local  government  in  South  Caro- 
lina. Historically,  the  parish,  the  district  and  the  county  are 
inseparably  connected.  They  approach,  meet,  and  overlap 
each  other  in  the  two  centuries  of  South  Carolina  history. 
Everywhere  they  identify  themselves  with  those  principles  of 
self-government,  the  continuation  of  which  has  made  the 
English  race  what  it  is  in  the  Old  World  and  in  the  New. 


♦Those  who  have  read  Governor  Thompson's  reports  on  free  schools 
while  he  was  Superintendent  of  Education,  will  know  that  this  idea  of 
local  taxation  for  free  schools  is  strongly  urged. 

f  Charleston  News  and  Courier,  December,  1882. 


Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina.* 


•It  is  often  urged  as  a  matter  of  reproach  that  the  more 
Southern  colonies  of  our  Union  failed  to  establish  common 
schools,  while  their  sister  colonies  were  earnestly  striving  to  pro- 
vide for  the  general  enlightenment  of  the  population  ;  that 
the  Southern  States  continually  discouraged  school-establish- 
ment, and  that,  on  the  whole,  the  Southern  people  are  opposed 
to  the  entire  system  of  common  school  education.  Now  this 
is  a  grave  charge.  If  it  can  be  supported  by  sufficient  evi- 
dence, one  might  almost  call  it  a  crime  on  the  part  of  the 
Southern  people.  Indeed,  it  would  be  something  extraordi- 
nary and  almost  paradoxical,  i/,  in  an  English  colony  and 
among  English  parishes,  men  could  be  found  opposing  the 
education  of  their  fellows  of  the  same  race  and  blood.  It 
would  be  something  anomalous  in  the  annals  of  the  English 
people.  A  recently  deceased  Baltimore  newspaper  once  pub- 
lished the  astounding  fact  that  "  no  such  thing  as  free  schools 
were  known  in  the  South  before  the  late  war,  and  that  the 
oldest  of  them  have  only  been  in  existence  for  a  lew  years !  " 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  schools  for  the  education  of  the  people 
were  among  the  earliest  institutional  germs  in  the  Southern 
States.  To  discover  these  germs,  we  have  only  to  look  into 
the  early  legislation  of  South  Carolina.     This  particular  State 


*  Authorities. — Statutes  at  Large  <>f  South  Carolina.  Acta  of  the  (im- 
eral  Assembly.  Kamsay's  History  of  South  Carolina.  Simin's  ili.-tory  of 
South  Carolina.  Dalcho,  Episcopal  Church  in  Smith  Carolina.  Reports 
of  the  Superintendent  of  Education.     Mayor  Courtnay,    Education  in 

South  Carolina.     Carroll's  Collections. 

29 


30  Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina. 

is  taken  as  an  example,  not  because  common  schools  have  no 
history  in  other  Southern  States,  or  because  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  has  done  any  more  in  this  direction  than  any  of  her 
neighbors.  ^Perhaps  other  States  have  furnished  as  good  a 
record,  and  some  may  have  done  even  more  for  popular  edu- 
cation. But  inasmuch  as  the  old  institutions  and  customs  of 
the  mother  country  were  so  perfectly  reproduced  in  South 
Carolina ;  and,  further,  because  from  South  Carolina  so  many 
other  Southern  communities  have  gone  forth ;  and,  lastly, 
because  her  public  policy  and  history  have  so  often  been  the 
public  policy  and  history  of  the  whole  South, —  a  sketch  of 
free-school  legislation  in  South  Carolina  may  serve  as  a 
typical  sketch  of  the  beginnings  of  Southern  education. 

Of  course,  certain  peculiar  circumstances  and  local  condi- 
tions must  be  taken  into  account  in  such  a  study  as  is 
proposed.  The  effect  of  climate  upon  the  habits,  customs  and 
industries  of  communities  should  be  remembered.  The  state 
of  society  must  be  examined.  And  especially  should  be 
noted  the  nature  of  the  chief  occupation  of  the  inhabitants. 
Indeed,  these  things  must  be* investigated  in  the  study  of  any 
social  question,  and  it  is  highly  necessary  in  considering  the 
question  of  free  schools. 

The  climatic  influences  on  the  early  settlers  of  South  Caro- 
lina are  at  once  seen  by  the  tendency  of  the  people  to  engage 
in  rural  pursuits.  From  the  earliest  times,  the  principal 
occupation  of  the  people  was  agriculture.  Experience  has 
abundantly  shown  that  the  exclusive  pursuit  of  this  industry 
is  unfavorable  to  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge.  Pagan 
and  heathen  still  suggest  by  their  etymology  the  characteristic 
ignorance  of  the  rural  population  in  classic  Italy  and  in  mediae- 
val Europe.  Even  in  our  own  time  and  generation,  we  look 
to  the  great  centres  of  population  and  of  wealth  for  the  higher 
development  of  systems  of  education.  In  such  communities 
the  people  are  collected  together  and  their  children  can  be 
conveniently  educated.  Moreover,  there  is  the  additional  ad- 
vantage, in  such  communities,  of  obtaining  that  superior  train- 


Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina.  31 

ing  which  only  the  friction  of  ideas  can  give.  Until  very 
recently,  little  attention  has  been  devoted  in  South  Carolina 
to  manufacturing  interests.  In  almost  all  Southern  commu- 
nities, manufactures,  as  such,  from  the  very  nature  of  English 
colonization  in  that  section,  were  almost  totally  neglected,  and 
it  may  be  seriously  questioned  whether  they  will  ever  be  exten- 
sive in  the  South.  From  the  pursuit  of  agriculture  to  the  almost 
total  exclusion  of  any  other  occupation,  the  growth  of  munici- 
palities was  slow.  One  should  not  expect,  therefore,  to  find 
that  the  development  of  the  common  school  system  in  South 
Carolina  was  as  rapid  as  in  other  colonies  where  the  industries 
of  the  people  were  more  varied.  It  goes  without  saying  that 
it  would  be  absurd  to  compare  the  growth  of  free  schools  in 
the  manufacturing  communities  of  ?sew  England  with  the  free 
schools  of  the  agricultural  communities  of  the  South,  and 
thereupon  urge  that  the  one  section  upheld  the  system,  while 
the  other  opposed  it.  Rather  let  the  comparison  be  made,  if 
made  at  all,  between  the  free  school  system  of  the  South  at 
one  period  of  history,  and  the  free  school  system  of  the  South 
at  another  period. 

As  to  the  social  aspect  of  our  study,  it  may  be  said  that 
slavery  existed  in  South  Carolina  from  very  early  times. 
This  fact  prevented  the  growth  of  a  strong  middle  class  out 
of  whose  ranks  the  patrons  of  common  schools  are  so  strongly 
recruited.  The  common  people  which  was  generated  in 
South  Carolina  was  that  hybrid  of  slavery  and  freedom, 
known  in  provincial  language  as  the  "  poor  white  trash." 
This  class  was  perfectly  contented  so  long  as  it  maintained 
a  questionable  superiority  over  the  negro,  and  so  long  as 
nature  afforded  it  a  means  of" subsistence  without  toil,  without 
money,  and  without  price.  The  semi-tropical  climate  of  the 
South  afforded  ample  means  for  satisfying  human  wants  by 
hunting  and  fishing.  Poaching  prevailed  on  the  remote 
lands  of  the  planters,  and  thus  the  "poor  white  trash  "  eked 
out  an  existence  as  precarious  as  that  of  the  Indian,  and  cared 
as  little  as  the  savage   for  education  and    restraint.     Little 


32  Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina. 

could  be  done,  therefore,  in  this  direction  by  common  schools. 
Of  course,  little  effort  was  made  to  educate  the  slaves,  though, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  the  attempt  was  successfully  made 
in  the  early  days  of  the  colony. 

But  if  the  agricultural  pursuits  and  social  condition  of 
South  Carolina  had  such  an  influence  upon  its  educational 
economy,  the  very  nature  of  the  agricultural  pursuits  contribu- 
ted largely  to  render  the  school  system  different  from  other 
systems.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  of  the  evolution  of  an  almost 
perfect  system  of  free  schools  in  those  communities  where 
only  a  small  farm  is  amply  sufficient  to  support  an  entire 
family.  In  such  communities  of  small  farms,  with  dwellings 
in  sight  of  each  other,  the  children  can  conveniently  and 
safely  attend  school.  The  case  was  entirely  different  in  South 
Carolina.  From  the  very  first  settlement  of  the  colony,  there 
was  a  constant  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  settlers  to  occupy 
large  plantations.  After  the  introduction  of  great  staples, 
such  as  cotton  and  rice,  this  tendency  increased. 

The  growth  of  towns,  with  all  their  good  effects  upon  free 
schools,  was  a  small  factor  in  the  educational  history  of  South 
Carolina.  Indeed,  there  was  scarcely  any  town  worthy  of  the 
name  outside  of  Charleston.  All  lite  was  spent  on  the  plan- 
tations, and  education  was  carried  on  to  a  great  degree  by  the 
employment  of  tutors.  Having  thus  described  the  early 
social  and  industrial  condition  of  the  State,  we  are  better  pre- 
pared to  investigate  the  origin  and  growth  of  the  free  school 
system  in  South  Carolina. 

The  history  of  free  school  legislation  in  South  Carolina 
naturally  divides  itself  into  four  periods,  embracing  nearly 
two  centuries.  Each  period,  while  greatly  differing  from  the 
others  in  length  and  characteristics,  is  closely  connected  with 
all  the  rest.  (1).  The  first  is  the  colonial  period,  and  repre- 
sents the  first  efforts  of  the  early  settlers  to  provide  for  the 
education  of  the  masses.  (2).  The  second  period  extends 
from  1811,  when  the  benefits  of  free  schools  were  extended  to 
the  districts,  and  a  more  general  system  was  established,  to  the 


Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina.  33 

close  of  the  civil  war  in  1865.  (3).  The  third  period  covers 
that  dark  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  State  commonly  called 
the  reconstruction  period.  (4).  To  the  fourth  and  last  divi- 
sion belongs  the  growth  of  the  free  school  system  in  the 
State  since  the  downfall  of  the  carpet-baggers'  regime,  in  1876. 
As  it  is  our  purpose  to  consider  more  especially  the  germs  of 
free  schools  in  South  Carolina,  more  attention  will  be  paid  to 
the  first  of  these  periods  than  to  any  other. 

It  was  but  natural  that  in  Charleston  free  schools  should 
first  take  root  and  flourish.  It  was  at  first  the  only  town  in 
the  colony.  It  was  here  that  the  poorer  classes  were  found 
in  larger  numbers  than  in  the  rural  localities.  About  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century  a  society  was  formed  in  London 
for  the  purpose  of  propagating  the  gospel  in  foreign  parts.  It 
lent  its  support  principally  to  those  colonies  where  the  Epis- 
copal church  was  the  established  order.  From  the  fact 
that  the  Church  of  England  was  the  established  church  of 
South  Carolina,  it  received  liberal  aid  from  this  charitable 
society.  It  is  interesting  to  observe,  in  contemporary  writings, 
the  interest  which  the  early  parishes  manifested  in  local  edu- 
cation, and  also  the  encouragement  which  they  gave  to  it. 

In  1705,  the  Reverend  Samuel  Thomas,  a  missionary  of  the 
above  society,  speaks  of  Goose  creek  parish  in  South  Carolina : 
"  The  number  of  heathen  slaves  in  this  parish  I  suppose  to  be 
about  200;  twenty  of  which  I  observe  to  come  constantly  to 
church,  and  these  and  several  others  of  them  well  understand- 
ing the  English  tongue  and  can  read."  Of  another  parish  he 
remarks:  "  I  have  here  presumed  to  give  an  account  of  one 
thousand  slaves  belonging  to  our  English  in  Carolina,  so  far 
as  they  know  of  it,  and  are  desirous  of  Christian  knowledge, 
and  seem  willing  to  prepare  themselves  for  it,  in  learning  to 
read,  for  which  they  redeem  time  from  their  labour.  Many 
of  them  can  read  in  the  15ible  distinctly,  and  great  numbers 
of  them  were  learning  when  1  left  the  Province."  Further, 
in  the  same  memorial,  Mr.  Thomas  says,  "South  Carolina  is 
but  auinlant  colony,  and  their  treasury  at  best  but  small,  out 
5 


34  Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina. 

of  which  they  have,  at  present,  appropriated  2,000  pounds  to 
the  service  of  the  church,  for  the  building  six  churches  and  as 
many  parsonage  houses,  and  buying  glebe  land ;  so  that  for 
every  particular  parish  the  publick  disburse  three  hundred 
and  thirty-three  pounds,  and  £50  annually  for  all  the  six 
parishes ;  which,  considering  their  present  circumstances,  is 
very  extraordinary,  and  perhaps  such  instances  of  zeal  can 
hardly  be  paralleled  in  these  parts  of  the  world." 

The  seeds  of  free  schools  planted  by  the  charitable  society 
of  London,  and  nurtured  by  the  people  of  the  colony  were  not 
slow  in  maturing.     In  1712,  a  free  school  was  established  in 
Charleston,  through  private  donations,  and    the   legislature 
was  its  especial  guardian.     It  appears  that  it  was  the  object 
of  this  school,  not  only  to  furnish  its  pupils  with  a  classical 
education,  but   to   teach  writing,  arithmetic   and    merchant 
accounts.     In  order  to  encourage  private  donations,  it  was 
enacted  that  any  person  giving  £20  could  nominate  a  scholar 
to  be  taught  free  for  five  years.     The  master,  in  addition  to 
enjoying  the  use  of  the  lands,  houses,  and  other  property  of 
the  school,  received  a  salary  of  £100  per  annum.     He  was 
required  to  teach,  without  charge,  twelve  scholars,  who  were 
appointed  by  the  commissioners  of  the  school.     The  same  act 
went  further  in  establishing  schools.    It  fixed  a  donation  of  £10 
annually  on  each   parish  schoolmaster,  and  empowered  the 
vestry  of  each  parish  to  draw  upon  the  public  receiver  for  £12 
in  order  to  defray  the  expenses  of  building  the  parish  school. 
The  first  royal  governor,  after  the  revolution  from  proprie- 
tary misrule,  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  popular  education, 
and  did  much  to  foster  the  growth  of  free  schools.     Many 
parishioners  caught  the  growing  enthusiasm  and  made  dona- 
tions for  the  encouragement  of  education.     Especial  mention 
should  be  made  of  the  gift  made  by  the  Reverend  Mr.  Lud- 
lara,  of  Goose  Creek.     He  left  his  entire  estate,  valued  at 
£2,000,  for  the  foundation  of  a  free  school. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  a  colony  of  Con- 
gregational ists,  from   Dorchester,   Massachusetts,  under   the 


Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina.  35 

guidance  and  direction  of  the  Reverend  Joseph  Lord,  settled 
in  South  Carolina  at  a  place  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of 
their  old  home  in  New  England.  With  other  institutions, 
these  excellent  puritans  brought  with  them  their  system  of 
free  schools.  An  act  was  soon  passed  by  the  colonial  legisla- 
ture for  founding  and  erecting  a  free  school  at  Dorchester,  in 
St.  George's  parish.  The  free  school  idea  of  the  town  of  Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts,  was  thus  transplanted  to  the  free  school 
of  Dorchester  town,  South  Carolina,  where  town  and  parish 
were  reunited. 

In  1735,  Richard  Beresford  bequeathed  a  large  sum  of 
money  towards  erecting  a  free  school  in  St.  Thomas'  parish. 
Shortly  afterwards,  free  schools  were  erected  at  Ninety-Six, 
Beaufort,  and  in  St.  Thomas'  parish.  Many  other  societies 
were  chartered,  having  for  their  object  the  erection  of  free 
schools.  Colleges  were  founded  at  Charleston,  Beaufort, 
Cambridge,  and  Pinckneysville.  In  many  instances  the  State 
vested  all  the  escheated  property  of  a  parish  or  a  village  in 
the  trustees  of  schools  and  academies. 

It  is  not  maintained  that  the  State,  as  yet,  had  established 
any  extensive  system  of  free  schools,  yet  it  is  clear  that  great 
encouragement  was  given  to  all  educational  efforts.  The 
matter  of  regulating  the  schools,  however,  was  left  to  the 
parishioners  themselves.  This  is  seen  in  the  case  of  St. 
Thomas'  parish,  where  at  Childsbury,  James  Childs  bequeathed 
X600  towards  erecting  a  free  school,  and  the  parishioners,  by 
local  subscription,  increased  the  amount  to  .€2,800.  These 
parish  free  schools  continued  to  flourish  by  local  support, 
and  their  influence  was  potent  for  the  intellectual  good  of 
South  Carolina. 

We  now  come  to  the  second  period  in  the  history  of  free 
schools  in  this  State.  This  period  began  in  1811,  when  the 
State  assumed  control  of  the  schools,  and  extended  until  1865. 
The  act  which  established  this  system  was  entitled  "an  Act 
to  establish  Free  schools  throughout  the  State,"  and  provides 
that   "there    shall    be   established    in    each    election    district 


36  Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina. 

within  this  State,  a  number  of  free  schools  equal  to  the  num- 
ber of  members  which  such  district  is  entitled  to  send  to  the 
house  of  representatives  in  the  legislature  of  this  State.  In 
each  of  these  schools  the  primary  elements  of  learning,  read- 
ing, writing  and  arithmetic,  should  always  be  taught,  and 
such  other  branches  of  education  as  the  commissioners,  to  be 
hereinafter  appointed,  may  from  time  to  time  direct." 

Every  citizen  of  the  State  was  allowed  to  send  his  children 
or  wards  to  the  free  school  in  his  district  free  of  charge. 
Where  more  children  applied  for  admission  to  a  school  than 
the  same  could  conveniently  accommodate,  preference  was 
always  given  to  the  poor  children.  Three  hundred  dollars 
per  annum  was  the  amount  appropriated  for  the  support  of 
each  school.  The  schools  were  controlled  by  commissioners 
appointed  by  the  legislature.  The  commissioners  had  a 
general  oversight  of  the  schools  in  their  district,  determining 
their  situation,  appointing  the  teachers,  deciding  on  the  admis- 
sion of  the  scholars,  and  drawing  on  the  comptroller  for  the 
school  money.  The  act  recognizes  the  existence  of  other  free 
schools  at  that  time  in  the  following  manner:  "In  all  dis- 
tricts where  a  school  or  schools  are  already,  or  may  hereafter 
be  established  by  private  funds  or  individual  subscription,  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  the  commissioners  of  the  free  schools,  at 
their  discretion,  to  unite  such  part  or  parts  of  the  fund  pro- 
vided by  this  act  for  such  district  with  such  school  or  schools, 
in  such  manner  as  may  appear  to  them  best  calculated  to 
promote  the  objects  of  this  act." 

Free  schools  were  thus  legally  established  throughout  the 
State.  But  in  point  of  fact  they  did  not  exist  long  before  an 
effort  was  made  by  the  members  of  the  legislature  from  the 
sparsely  settled  districts  to  abolish  the  whole  system.  This 
was  in  1813,  two  years  after  their  general  adoption.  The 
objection  was  that  they  were  too  inconvenient  and  too  expen- 
sive. This  argument  called  forth  an  eloquent  plea  for  free 
schools  by  a  representative  from  Charleston.  The  speech  is 
quoted  at  length   in   Mayor  Courtenay's   little  monograph, 


Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina.  37 

entitled  "Education  in  South  Carolina."  A  few  words  will, 
however,  illustrate  the  spirit  of  the  address.  Speaking  of  the 
objection  to  the  whole  free  school  system  on  account  of  the 
scattered  population  in  one  or  two  districts,  Mr.  Crofts,  the 
representative  from  Charleston,  thus  appealed  to  his  oppo- 
nent: "Let  him  look  back  and  rejoice  that  this  institution  so 
flourishes  in  the  bud.  Let  him  look  forward,  and  anticipating 
the  fruit  which  it  will  bear,  and  the  bounties  which  it  will 
dispense,  let  him  recoil  from  the  meditated  blow,  and  throw 
away  the  axe  with  which  he  assails  its  roots.  What  will  be 
his  feelings  when  it  is  prostrate,  leafless  and  desolate?  It  is 
urged  that  owing  to  the  sparse  population  of  one  or  two  dis- 
tricts the  free  schools  there  are  comparatively  useless,  and 
therefore  the  whole  system  ought  to  be  abolished.  This  evil 
time  will,  of  itself,  remove;  and  what  kind  of  influence  is 
that  which  would  abolish  a  general  good  in  order  to  get  rid 
of  a  partial  evil?  There  is  a  cloud,  Mr.  Speaker,  which  the 
sun  cannot  penetrate  —  why  does  he  shine  at  all  ?  There  are 
rocks  impenetrable  to  the  dews  of  heaven  —  why  are  not 
showers  withheld  altogether?  There  are  barren  places  that 
produce  nothing  —  why  is  not  agriculture  abandoned  ?  No, 
sir,  let  us  rejoice  in  the  good  we  have  done,  and  regret  not 
that  we  cannot  do  everything  at  once." 

Free  schools  were  not  abolished  in  South  Carolina.  They 
continued  to  receive  the  support  of  the  State,  and  were  man- 
aged on  the  same  plan  as  when  first  established,  only  increas- 
ing in  number. 

In  1828,  seventeen  years  after  their  general  establishment, 
there  were  eight  hundred  and  forty  schools  in  the  State 
and  nine  thousand  and  thirty-six  pupils.  Twelve  years  later, 
in  1840,  there  were  five  hundred  and  sixty-six  free  schools, 
with  twelve  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty  pupils.  In 
1850  there  were  seven  hundred  and  twenty-tour  tree  schools  in 
the  State  with  seventeen  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  children  attending  them.  The  support  of  these  schools 
for  the  same  year  was  two  hundred  thousand  and  six  hundred 


38  Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina. 

dollars.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war,  in  1861,  free  schools 
had  grown  so  rapidly  that  twenty  thousand  children  attended 
them,  and  they  had  an  annual  support  of  more  than  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars. 

When  the  men  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  great  war  of 
secession  returned  to  their  homes  in  South  Carolina,  poverty 
stared  them  in  the  face.  The  homes  of  many  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  ravages  of  war.  The  freedom  of  the  blacks 
had  also  been  proclaimed.  Before  their  emancipation  the 
negroes  represented  the  wealth  of  the  State.  After  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  negroes,  the  embarrassing  question  arose  how 
it  was  possible  to  educate  three  times  the  number  of  children 
on  one-third  of  the  money.  The  reconstruction  undertook  to 
answer  this  question.  Many  earnest  and  zealous  teachers 
came  from  the  North  to  engage  in  the  great  work.  But  with 
them  came  political  demagogues  and  over-zealous  reformers. 
They  exercised  little  judgment.  Instead  of  trying  to  secure 
the  co-operation  of  the  native  teachers,  they  ignored  them. 
The  social  sentiments  of  the  people  were  utterly  disregarded. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  securing  the  sympathy,  good-will,  and 
encouragement  of  the  white  population,  these  intruders 
incurred  righteous  indignation.  The  corrupt  administration 
of  the  "carpet-bagger"  and  of  the  negro  seriously  interfered 
with  the  free  schools.  The  whole  system  had  well  nigh 
collapsed  when  the  radical  ring  was  overthrown  in  1876. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  reckless  expenditure  of  the  school 
money  by  negro  officials  during  the  carpet-bag  regime,  the 
following  example  will  suffice.  The  amount  of  the  past  school 
indebtedness  of  Barnwell  county,  taken  from  the  report  of 
the  Superintendent  of  Education  of  South  Carolina  was: 

From  November  1,  1872,  to  November  7,  1876 $3,648.13 

From  November  1,  1876,  to  November  1,  1878 890.88 

$4,539.01 

When  the  people  of  South  Carolina  resumed  control  of 
their  local  affairs  in  1876-77,  the  outlook  of  the  free  schools 


Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina.  39 

was  perhaps  even  gloomier  than  at  the  close  of  the  war.  At 
that  time  the  State  was  a  battle-field  covered,  as  it  were,  with 
blasted  homes,  smoking  ruins,  with  the  dead  and  wounded. 
But  in  1877  that  battle-field  presented  the  appearance  of 
having  suffered  pillageatthe  hands  of  camp  followers.  Much 
of  the  school  fund  had  been  squandered;  the  teachers  were 
badly  paid  ;  the  pupils  poorly  taught;  the  school  buildings 
in  many  places  were  badly  out  of  repair.  More  than  this,  a 
school  debt  of  more  than  $200,000  was  left  for  the  white 
population  to  pay.  But  the  people  did  not  despair.  Earnest 
and  energetic  souls  inspired  them,  and,  with  the  determination 
characteristic  of  their  race,  the  people  of  South  Carolina 
slowly  began  the  great  work  that  lay  before  them.  The 
schools  were  organized  on  a  more  equitable  basis;  the  teach- 
ers were  selected  with  more  care ;  attention  was  paid  to  the 
pupils.  Provision  was  made  for  the  liquidation  of  the  enor- 
mous school  debt  of  1877.  The  legislature  provided  that  the 
poll  tax  of  most  of  the  counties  should  be  used  to  extinguish 
the  debt.  Free  school  resources  were  subjected  to  a  very 
severe  strain,  but  the  teachers  were  convinced  of  the  honesty 
of  the  administration,  and  confidence  was  soon  restored. 

During  the  year  1880-1  there  were  3,057  public  schools  in 
the  State  of  South  Carolina,  an  increase  of  84  over  the  pre- 
ceding year.  The  school  population,  white  and  colored,  was 
133,458  out  of  a  total  population  of  995,577.  The  total 
number  of  teachers  was  3,249,  the  average  wages  being 
$25.45  per  month  lor  males,  and  $24.48  for  females.  The 
entire  amount  of  salaries  paid  to  teachers  during  the  year 
was  $309,855.10,  and  the  total  available  school  fund  was 
$415,108,943.  These  facts  present  a  most  hopeful  picture 
l'or  the  free  schools  of  South  Carolina.  This  cheering  out- 
look is  largely  due  to  the  heroic  efforts  of  the  last  Superin- 
tendent of  Education  of  the  State,  Col.  Hugh  S.  Thompson, 
now  Governor  of  the  State,  who  held  the  above  educational 
position  from  the  time  of  the  overthrow  of  the  carpet-bag 
government.     With    indefatigable   zeal    he  revived   the   free 


40  Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina. 

school  system  and  gave  it  an  impetus  which,  if  sustained  by 
the  co-operation  of  the  people,  will  be  of  lasting  good  to  the 
State. 

One  of  Colonel  Thompson's  special  schemes  was  the  organ- 
ization of  two  Normal  schools,  one  for  white  and  one  for 
colored  teachers.  These  schools,  which  meet  every  summer, 
are  largely  attended,  being  free  of  charge.  iThey  are  con- 
ducted by  the  best  teachers  and  lecturers  in  the  South  and 
West.  The  expenses  incurred  are  defrayed  by  the  State. 
The  good  done  by  these  Normal  schools  cannot  be  over-esti- 
mated. While  quickening  the  teachers,  they  also  influence 
the  pupils  and  interest  the  whole  public  in  the  great  cause  in 
which  they  are  engaged.  In  the  words  of  the  official  report 
on  these  institutions:  "The  importance  of  the  work  will, 
perhaps,  be  better  understood  by  all  when  it  is  known  that 
the  students  of  the  Institute,  taking  the  actual  number  as 
stated  by  them,  had  charge  of  the  education  of  an  aggregate 
of  about  15,000  children,  or,  of  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  white 
children  of  the  State  who  are  attending  school.  It  cannot  be 
too  strongly  emphasized  that  normal  institutes  are  maintained 
for  the  benefit  of  the  children  of  the  State,  not  for  the  per- 
sonal benefit  of  the  teachers  who  attend  them." 

The  growth  of  municipalities  will  have  a  powerful  influence 
upon  the  growth  of  the  free  schools,  and  free  schools  will  react 
upon  the  municipalities  aud  quicken  local  life.  A  demand 
for  the  right  of  local  taxation  for  £he  support  of  schools  is 
already  growing  in  South  Carolina.  This,  however,  is  but 
a  return  to  old  colonial  principles.  When  everywhere 
adopted,  local  taxation  will  be  found  to  be  of  great  practical 
benefit,  not  only  in  increasing  the  influence  and  efficiency  of 
the  free  schools,  but  also  in  demonstrating  to  the  people  the 
great  advantage  of  controlling  all  their  local  affairs.  Cheer- 
ing signs  for  the  future  of  free  schools  in  South  Carolina 
must  be  welcomed,  not  only  by  the  citizens  of  the  State,  but 
by  good  citizens  everywhere,  and  by  all  who  prefer  enlighten- 
ment to  ignorance,  morality  to  vice,  happiness  to  misery, 
and  who  honor  an  intelligent,  upright,  law-abiding  people. 


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